User:Hexaemeron

    Anna Gouriev was exposed to icon painting from her earliest childhood days in Moscow. Growing up in the household of one of the world's most prominent iconographers, her mother Ksenia Pokrovsky, Anna learned icon painting in the gradual and natural way that daughters learn to cook by watching their mothers. Anna was also surrounded by the steady coming and going of artists, theologians and intellectuals who formed the underground society of secret iconographers in Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s. It was this close network of family and friends which was instrumental in recovering the ancient tradition of icon painting during a time when few understood it or dared practice it except in secret.
    Eventually, this underground community of iconographers and theologians founded Izograph Society and openly declared their purposes. At the first Moscow celebration in 1989 of works produced by its members, Anna exhibited her icons. Deeply influenced by her mother's art, Anna expanded her proficiency in other mediums and earned a master's degree in tapestry design from the Applied and Industrial Art School of Moscow in 1990.
    The Pokrovsky family came to the U.S. in 1991 and established a studio in Sharon, MA where Anna assisted with her mother's commissions for monasteries, churches and individuals. As in Russia, the Pokrovsky’s studio in America became a magnet for iconographers and scholars around the world. The mother-daughter team also trained hundreds of students who have benefit from their wealth of accumulated knowledge and experience. In 2010, Anna took over responsibilities of commissions for Izograph Studio when Ksenia retired from actively painting and became more an adviser to Anna. Anna continues to teach courses for Hexaemeron non-prfit organization.