About Colette Kalvesmaki

Kalvesmaki family iconColette Kalvesmaki,  Iconographer, Art Restorer, Director

Colette M. Kalvesmaki is trained in the tradition of Byzantine-Russian iconography.  She uses traditional materials such as egg tempera, gold on fine woods for panel icons as well as fresco for wall finishes. She graduated with a BA in Classical Archaeology in 1989 from the University of California, Santa Barbara and worked as an archaeologist in America and Greece before returning to school to receive a Masters in Theology from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1993. She moved to Massachusetts to study intensively for three years under the renowned Russian iconographer Ksenia Pokrovsky. While in Boston, Colette was also trained as an art restorer with Treffler and Sons Art Restoration Studios and in recent years has trained in the Buon Fresco Academy of Wall Artistry, expanding her abilities to a variety of wall finishes.

Colette started The Center for Byzantine Material Arts in Virginia in 2014 and continues to paint, teach and lecture for various Churches, Museums and Universities.  Her work can be found in formal exhibits, churches and private collections in America and internationally.

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Courses offered by Colette: