Last year, Jerry Holsopple spent his days teaching in the visual and communication arts department at 草莓社区. These days, he’s still teaching – but he’s doing it at LCC International University in Lithuania.

Jerry Holsopple is captured on a photo expedition by one of his students at LCC International University.

Holsopple, 52, is in Lithuania for the duration of the 2009-2010 school year on a Fulbright scholarship, a grant that allows academics to engage in global intellectual pursuits. The application process is extremely competitive; Holsopple is one of just two scholars in Lithuania this year. He’s based at LCC International University, where he teaches photography, film and culture and religious art classes. He chose the country for his studies for a number of reasons.

"I chose Lithuania since I have brought EMU students here for six-week experiences and really enjoy the students here," Holsopple said via e-mail. "I also wanted to study [religious] icon painting and connected on a previous trip with a Russian Orthodox priest who agreed to teach me if I came back for a year."

Holsopple first became fascinated with icons – broadly defined as religious works of art – on a trip to Bulgaria in the 1990s. "I visited several churches and a large gallery, which was where many were put in these countries during the Soviet era, and became fascinated by them," he said.

But rather than learning about the icon-painting process from a book, Holsopple wanted to try it firsthand. He studies with the priest who had previously agreed to teach him. The man "speaks primarily Russian and Lithuanian. I take LCC students along to translate," Holsopple said. "The conversations are about more than icons, [they’re] about life and the way we approach our work."

The duo have plenty of opportunity for conversation, because the icon-painting process is lengthy. It begins by roughing the surface of a quarter-sawn piece of wood and then applying coats of gelatin and water mixtures.

"After two or three layers of this, you soak a piece of linen cloth in the gelatin water and then smooth that onto the board," Holsopple said. Then, the board is coated with about a dozen more coats of gelatin water mixed with chalk; between coats, "you sand, gradually using finer and finer sandpaper," he said. This part of the process takes four to five weeks, he said, after which the board is ready for use.

For his icon, Holsopple chose the angel Michael, drawing inspiration from other paintings for his own etching. "I start with a very old one painted by Rublev, seeking to understand how he draped the clothing," he said. "Learning to do the eyes and the hands took the most time."

When Holsopple’s drawing was complete, he transferred it to the board using carbon paper and then scratched it into the surface with an awl. After that, he began painting and applying gold leaf. All that’s left is to finish painting and then apply a clear varnish to protect the image. The final step, Holsopple said, is to have the icon blessed.

"To be a full part of the tradition, the icon will need to be blessed by a priest," he said. He plans to bring the icon back to the U.S.

In addition to icon-painting and teaching, Holsopple finds time to explore Lithuania, camera in hand. Some highlights of his trip so far include taking a ferry across the Baltic Sea to Stockholm, buying wool socks and fresh fruit from "old ladies in little markets" and photographing a Lithuanian wedding. He’ll return to Harrisonburg at the end of June, a bittersweet conclusion to a rich year.

"I will miss Lithuania, especially the people, when I return, but it will also be good to be back with my colleagues at EMU," he said. "I hope my year immersed in another tradition and type of work will allow me to evaluate in new ways my own tradition and work."

What is it that creates "Borders and Boundaries" in peoples’ lives?

That is the theme explored in an exhibit of linocuts and mixed media on display Oct. 14 – Nov. 3 in the at 草莓社区.

The artist, Barbara Gautcher, teaches art and is art coordinator at Eastern Mennonite High Shool.

An opening reception for the artist will be held 2:30-4 p.m. Oct. 14 in the gallery as part of EMU’s homecoming weekend.

Gautcher says the initial idea for her printmaking project came during a sabbatical time she spent in Romania.

"Every house was surrounded by high fences and gates, some elaborate, some simply wooden branches woven into wire," she says. "Since it was mid-winter and snowing every day, I felt the fences were keeping people out. On reflection, they also protected what was within."

Reflections on the Berlin Wall

Last summer, she spent time in Berlin, listening to first-hand stories of the Berlin wall being built and of lives being separated, walking the boundary of the wall and experiencing the aftermath of the fall of the wall.

Other works in her exhibit are simple boundaries: the edges of gardens, the beginning of woods, the edge of the EMHS campus.

Gautcher’s technique is fairly simple. She spends much time drawing, keeping sketchbooks, taking photos and recording images from the spoken and written word. From these inspirations, she makes a value drawing, transfers it to linoleum (backwards), cuts out the areas that are to remain white and leaves the areas that are to be inked.

She pulls a proof and uses that as the base for the monotype. She paints on a glass or acrylic sheet the areas that are to have color, prints that on a clean piece of damp printmaking paper and then re-prints the linocut onto the surface of the monotype.

"Though the linocut is always the same, the monotype is always one of a kind," she notes. "I rarely make more than five linocut/monotypes of each image."

Gautcher has taught at EMHS since 1985 and also taught 2002-05 in the summer art program at James Madison University. She earned a B.A. degree in fine arts from Bridgewater (VA) College and an M.F.A. degree in art education at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

The exhibit will be open daily during regular library hours through Nov. 3. Admission is free.