Luminous: Conversations On Sacred Arts

A master photographer, Ralph Sidway also thinks and speaks articulately about the art of photography, and the beauty of putting the camera aside and simply seeing.

The symbiotic chemistry of two visionary artists is both creative and personal. This comes across palpably in our three-way conversation—a particular joy.

George Kordis is a world-renowned iconographer. His work can be found in churches, museums, and sacred spaces throughout the world. He's also a theologian and a teacher, someone who has really thought through his work. He's uniquely able to communicate his holistic sense of art, culture, and theology. Kordis's first conversation with Luminous, "Art in Secular Culture," revolved around theory and related subjects. This second conversation takes a different direction, one that sheds light on his own journey with the sacred arts.

It’s rare that one encounters a soul so vastly creative, and so clearly attuned to the things-that-are. Helena Tulve’s diverse compositional oeuvre finds its common thread in that attunement. She expresses herself with warmth and with precision. Our conversation begins on the subject of the Jesus Prayer and takes right off from there. 

 Kim Haines-Eitzen adds to a rich body of work with her most recent book, an exploration of the desert soundscapes that may have shaped the lives and writings of the ancient desert ascetics. We talk about this, and more, in a conversation I recorded from my forest hideaway in Estonia.