Transfiguration Church Lowell, MA
jb: Your first icon was for your home church, Transfiguration, in Lowell.
RJA: Fr. John Sarantos was the priest at Transfiguration when the church was built. The walls were bare. After the Father came back from a visit to St. Marks Basilica in Venice, he wanted to bring that look and feel to Transfiguration. There was a plan from the beginning. In 1964, the work started with the installation of the Blessed Mother on the eastern wall of Transfiguration. The second mosaic icon, the Mother and Child was installed in the apse, the area behind the altar, and then around the church. Six icons surround the open altar, each measuring 3 ‘x 9’. Over the next 30 years icons and screens were installed around the church.
There had been a fire in the church at Lowell and the three original icons were replaced after the fire with Byzantine style icons I designed. My son recently recovered one of the original icons after a search of my studio. The work had been covered with a cardboard box and got stashed away behind some items in the hallway leading to the studio. We are returning the icon screen to the church and it will be installed in the back hallway.
The Archbishop of Boston cried when he saw my work in Lowell and said it was the best icon of Christ he had ever seen.
Commentary:
Transfiguration Church in Lowell has posted photos of some of the icons Andrews installed at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/transfiguration-lowell/albums/72157707225961045
The entire church, altar, apse, walls, the front of the choir loft and ceiling are installed with icons. The works were completed in 1994 and the Bishop of Boston blessed the works in a special ceremony.
