Instructors

Claudia Coose, from Friday Harbor, WA, began painting icons in 1990.  In 1997 and 1999 she received funds from the New Mexico Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program as a master artist to teach iconography.  Claudia has taught several classes as well as individual students.  She has studied with several iconographers, choosing to work with those whose work attracts her technically or spiritually to new levels of insight.  Her icons have been shown in several galleries in New Mexico, as well as in the Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA) national traveling exhibit, "Icons: Windows to Eternity."  Claudia is a nurse, and as her schedule allows, teaches the intermediate/advanced students at the Institute.

Mary Katsilotmetes, from Portland, Oregon, began writing icons in 1992 under the direction of Charles Rohrbacher.  In both 1993 and 1998 she completed advanced studies under Fr. Egon Sendler in France.  Mary conducts retreats, workshops, and presentations.  Among the icons she has written are those for the University of Portland, St. Mary's Academy, Catholic Worker House, Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Monastery, Lafayette, OR, Queen of Angels Monastery, Mt. Angel, OR, and the Jesuit Native American Mission in St. Paul's, WA, and is in the fifth year of a seven year project of icons for Resurrection Catholic Parish in Tualatin, OR.  She has worked as a studio artist, set-designer, and arts administrator.

Kathy Sievers has taught art to student from preschool age to senior citizens.  She studied iconography with Charles Rohrbacher (1988-2000) and Fr. Egon Sendler (France, 1992, 1998), and began teaching in 1994.  She toured icon sites in Russia in 2005.  She has written icons for parishes in Portland, OR, North Plains, OR, Hillsboro, OR, Anaheim, CA, and for many individuals.  Her articles have appeared in national publications and on websites.  Her icon work was included in an icon exhibit at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, OR; another at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, WA; the CIVA National Traveling Exhibit; and in national and regional liturgical conventions.  She leads retreats on Praying with Icons, and speaks to parish groups including RCIA and high school students.  She has spoken to university students at Portland Community College, Pacific Lutheran University, and Florida State University.  She also introduced icons to the staff at Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon.  She is a full-time iconographer living in Hillsboro, OR, and accepts students for private lessons in her home.  Kathy teaches all levels of Institute students, in addition to teaching in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Ania Kocurek-Williams began writing icons in 2003 under the wings of Claudia Coose, Mary Katsilometes, and Kathy Sievers.  In 2007 she became a teaching assistant at the Institute, and after four years, began to teach the beginners at the summer Institute.  Ania is a native of Poland where she received her art education.  She lives in Portland, OR, and teaches individual students in her home.