Raymond Moench of Lehighton writes icons—Biblical wooden panel paintings used in the devotions of Eastern Christians. Icons are paintings, but they written are rather than painted.

“Icons are scriptural,” Moench explained. “The images come directly from the Biblical text, and therefore, are written rather than painted as in other sacred art.

Several weeks ago Moench’s 15” x 17” egg tempera icon “Baptism of Christ” won first place in the Best Old School competition at the Jim Thorpe Fringe Festival.

An artist since boyhood, but new to iconography—Moench was introduced to it only four years ago. Since then, he has ten completed gold leaf and egg tempera icons—each taking over one hundred hours.

Becoming an Iconographer

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1950, Moench didn’t know his father and when, at the age of seven, his mother became sick and his grandmother was unable to care for him, he was placed in an orphanage to be raised by nuns.

From an early age, he wanted to be an artist. While influenced by the Renaissance painters, especially, Leonardo da Vinci, Moench had minimal exposure to icons—passing them off as “primitive.”

As a teenager, he became intrigued with way Andrew Wyeth used egg tempera to provide layers of depth with exacting detail. “I liked what I saw,” said Moench.

“Egg tempera is very restricting,” he explained. “With oils, you have time to fix a mistake—not so with egg tempera which dries immediately. You must build it up over many flat layers, which are called glazes. Oil has a blending and a texture while tempera has a brilliance.” An egg tempera painting lasts longer than an oil painting. The egg tempera simply binds the pigments while the oil acts as a component of the paint and oxidizes over time.

After working as a commercial artist in New York City for 25 years, Moench refused to make the change to digital graphic design and lost his job.

Four years ago, to help recover from an illness, Moench joined a Health Crisis group near his Staten Island home run by Father John Walsted of the Episcopal Church. Father John had studied iconography at the Holy Cross Monastery in Upstate New York and in Russia. Moench was intrigued and began to study with him.

Moench’s wife, Virginia, had wanted to move away from Staten Island. On a automobile trip to New Orleans, they drove passed Lehighton and liked what they saw. Two and a half years ago, following the 9/11 attack on New York City, they decided to move there.

Moench initially commuted to Staten Island to teach art classes and study with Father John. The commute became too expensive and time consuming and Moench cut the umbilical cord with New York. He set up a studio at his Lehighton home and works and gives classes there.

Window to Heaven

Moench is presently working on his eleventh icon, “Mother of Tenderness.” He starts with a wooden panel of poplar or birch, which he coats with five layers of a plaster-like material called gesso, He wet sands it to create a hard absorbent surface resembling marble.

Because icons are never framed, they often have a designed-in border. Moench carefully places drops of gesso to form a traditional pastillia border.

He transfers his drawing onto the gesso panel and indents the design into the hardened surface. Then, a varnish is applied and when it is tacky, 23 carat gold leaf is carefully laid and burnished.

Only now can Moench begin to write with the dry pigment which he mixes with egg yoke. He first creates an outline then begins the first of several layers to create a flesh tone—working from dark to light to create the iridescence unique to egg tempera painting.

While most icons are small, the size of photographs, Father John has made wall sized icons for churches. To avoid creating a distraction, icons are signed on the back. Initially, Father John recommended not signing the icons for spiritual reasons. After his work was thought to be a forgery, he decided that signing the back of the icon was necessary.

“Icons are my love,” Moench said. “This is what I like to do.”

“I find the icons to be powerful,” he continued. “It has so much more to say than a painting. It has three elements: art, spiritual, and it is a window to heaven. As an iconographer, to partake in a tradition based on the Incarnation is very humbling.”