About

I am Emma Rae Rhead, an artist and icon painter in training, living and working in the beautiful historic city of Chester, England.

My training in icon painting has included study with liturgical artist Aidan Hart at The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts.

Alongside this, I have trained for three years with professional iconographer and Orthodox priest, Father Justin Venn of Studio Sanctus, and continue to attend workshops and receive ongoing mentoring from him.

My work is formed within the Byzantine tradition of icon painting and follows established handcrafted methods of painting in egg tempera using natural pigments and gold leaf on wooden panels. This highly skilled artisan process has been passed down through generations of craftspeople by apprenticeship for centuries.

I consider a limited number of private commissions each year alongside study and developing practice. You can read more about how I work here.