About

I am Emma Rae Rhead, an icon painter and iconographer in training, living and working in the beautiful historic city of Chester, England.

I am currently a student of liturgical artist, Aidan Hart, on the three-year Icon Painting Course at The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts. The course cohort is small and select, and formed through structured study and personal supervised practice.

Alongside this, I have trained for three years with professional iconographer and Orthodox priest, Father Justin Venn of Studio Sanctus, and continue to attend workshops, ongoing training and mentoring with him.

My work is formed within the Byzantine tradition of icon painting and follows established handcrafted methods of painting in egg tempera using natural pigments and gold leaf on wooden panel board. This highly skilled artisan process has been passed down generations of craftspersons by apprenticeship for centuries.

Prior to this work, my background is over 30 years as a medical doctor and psychotherapist.

I am not accepting icon commissions at this time whilst I prioritise training.  You can read more about commissioning a hand made traditional icon here.