Fr. Antoine Rizk,BSO-St Basil's Art Studio

Personal Statement

"Input! Input! Input!" were the words that
the robot in that movie "Short Circuit"
was saying while reading books and
looking for more and more information.
So I am when it concerns art; I imagine
myself in the place of that robot
devouring anything about art and saying
without stopping: "Drawing! Painting!
Iconography!" All my life, I have been
passionate about art. So I want to make
deeper my knowledge of art and to
share that with others. Art is a necessity
in my life.

Since I was eight years old I took advantage of hour-long drawing
lessons at school and practiced by myself drawing landscapes with
charcoal and animals and cartoon heroes with colored pencils. As a
teenager I developed new skills in painting. I taught myself oil painting;
I discovered on my own by trial and error how to blend colors together,
show contrast, and feel my brushes' strokes. I remember that, when I
created my first oil painting, I lost track of time; I was totally immersed
in painting which consumed me. I played with symbols and I did several
existential art works.

While I was studying theology in Rome, I stole time in the evenings to
learn drawing, anatomy, art history, and especially watercolor painting.
In France, I spent three summer vacations learning iconography
(egg-tempera technique) and fresco (Byzantine style). When I returned
to Lebanon, my native country, I continued to study: mosaic, stained
glass, computer design and painting restoration.

By looking at the map of my life, I figured out how my priesthood and
my ability as an artist merge together in complementary and create
harmony. I am enjoying my life as a priest and as an artist. So when I
arrived in the United States, I considered teaching art and iconography
my main mission, so I have established St Basil's Art Studio and I am
offering classes in drawing, mosaic and iconography. In addition to
that, by taking visual arts courses in colleges, I still looking to expand
upon my knowledge of art and improve upon the classes I currently
offer, and I still thirst for more.