Pamela Ehrlich

Pamela Ehrlich is an artist, researcher, and writer who lives in Mystic, Connecticut. She is educated in the arts and humanities (University of Chicago, Harvard, Brandeis, and the Rhode Island School of Design).

We tend to think of icons as small reverent images painted centuries ago, sparkling with gold leaf and luminously jewel-toned from the light which refracts through layers and layers of hand-made egg tempera paint.

Is there a place for modern icons in the art world? Pamela Ehrlich proves there is, with her series Saints of the Sea. Educated in the almost-lost art of egg tempera painting, Ehrlich creates the same antique glow in her small gems, and the same awe for her subject matter, while making it clear that these are 21st century images.

If the original purpose of icons was worship, but also education, Ehrlich’s icons fill the same void. They can and should be admired as art, but they also remind us of stories we once knew and have forgotten, or stories we never knew at all. These saints of the sea include stella maris, St Nicolas, and the patron saint of whales.