International artist Joni Zavitsanos is set to exhibit and lecture at Waynesburg University’s Department of Fine Arts. The show, “My Father’s Daughter: Byzantine Art in the Modern World,” will run from March 21 through June 20. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Ms. Zavitsanos, who has previously showed at Fordham University, will also serve as a DeVito Lecture Series speaker for 2023. The lecture will be held Tuesday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in Alumni Hall, the third floor of Miller Hall, and will also feature guest speaker Greg Halvatzis, Board Chair of the Waynesburg University Board of Trustees and a longtime friend of Ms. Zavitsanos’ late father, renowned Byzantine iconographer Diamantis Cassis.
Ms. Zavitsanos’s father is the inspiration for her own Byzantine iconography, which she mixes with modern imagery. Her beloved father and Mr. Halvatzis had long discussed doing an exhibit at the Pennsylvania school, but it never came to be. Ms. Zavitsanos said when Mr. Halvatzis approached her about doing this exhibit, they decided to make it in honor of her late father. Her modern Byzantine images will be exhibited alongside her father’s work. Many of her pieces were directly based on, or influenced by his work that will also be shown. Her honorarium stipend will be donated for a scholarship at the school.
In a story about the event on the university’s website, reporter Kayla Ayers wrote:
“Byzantine iconography, which originated in the 1st Century, was created to provide a visual text within Christian theology, using a disciplined technique to eliminate personal style from the artist. Zavitsanos’ work takes a contemporary approach to traditional Byzantine iconography, translating the sacred imagery into a more secular form through the use of mixed media art.
Her artwork joins collages of print clippings and the ancient images of Byzantine iconography to show the sorrows of today’s world and the search for an answer from the Divine. She also draws inspiration from her father’s work.”
An opening reception will be held Monday, March 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Skylight Room on the third floor of Eberly Library.
For more information on the art show, contact Andrew Heisey, chairperson for the Department of Fine Arts and associate professor of art, at aheisey@waynesburg.edu or 724-852-3274.