St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Snell Isle welcomes all to ICONS in Transformation, a traveling modern art exhibition by the internationally acclaimed Russian-Swedish abstract expressionist Ludmila Pawlowska. The exhibit showcases Pawlowska’s work featuring Russian icons as a source of inspiration for contemporary art. It has toured cathedrals, museums and galleries in Europe, and throughout the United States.
Art With a Purpose
The current ICONS in Transformation exhibit includes nearly 150 pieces of Pawlowska’s contemporary works as well as a dozen traditional icons created at the workshop of Vasilevsky Monastery in Suzdal, Russia. Most works are available for purchase, and proceeds benefit St. Thomas’ mission and community outreach efforts.
Body of Work
Over her career, Pawlowska has worked with a wide range of genres, both figurative and abstract. She’s worked with wood, fabric, paper, steel, copper, plywood and Plexiglas, as well as found objects. Her work has earned favorable reviews for its originality and evocative qualities, ranging from startling “in your face” dramatic expression to ethereal contemplative beauty.
“[Pawlowska] makes paintings in a vein of contemplative abstraction; her images are intuitive and enigmatic.” – Sir Roy Strong, former director of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London
“She makes art in which femininity, religion, dramatic expression and esthetica beautifully come to harmony.” – Berndt Arell, director at the National Museum of Stockholm
About the Artist
Ludmila Pawlowska was born in 1964 in exile, in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet Republic. Although she did not have a religious upbringing, she chose to be baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church when she was 18, an illegal act at the time. After the fall of the Soviet Union, she moved to Sweden, where she and her husband, Jan Lech, run the Scandinavian Art Center. She continues to develop her abstract expressionism style of painting and sculpture, characterized by using many layers of paint to produce highly textured artworks.
The ICONS in Transformation exhibit features works Pawlowska created over a decade after the sudden death of her mother. She found comfort recalling the icons she had seen in Russian monasteries and worked through her grief through her own artwork. For more about Pawlowska, visit www.ludmilapawlowska.se.
About St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church
Founded in 1952, St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida. The church, at 1200 Snell Isle Blvd. NE, is open to all members of the community. For more info, visit www.stthomasstpete.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/comeseestthomas.
ICONS in Transformation will be on display at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church through February 9: Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays; noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Additional visits are available by appointment. Suggested donation: $10 per person; free to children and students.
