Saint James Artist in Residence

Dorothy Thayne, Artist

Dorothy Thayne, the Saint James 2026 artist in residence, is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and also holds a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University. She has exhibited her work in the areas where she lived with her husband, Lewis, and their three children. Her icons have been installed in churches and monasteries in Conyers, GA, Cape May Point, NJ and Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA.

Dorothy first started writing (painting) icons in 1994. They are painted in a traditional Byzantine style using materials of the highest quality, including gold leaf, natural and historic pigments, bound with the yolk of an egg, on a base of poplar wood covered with a gesso of chalk and marble dust. The paint is applied in many layers, resulting in a translucency that gives the icon a quality of inner light.

Saint James has two icons written by Thayne—the icon of the Mother of God (Salus Populi Lancaster) in the Sanctuary, and the icon of Blessed Silence (Hesychia) in the Chapel. Locally, two other large icons—The Mother of God and The Holy Trinity—can be seen in the narthex of Miller Chapel at Lebanon Valley College.

Dorothy is currently writing an icon of the theophany, the Baptism of Christ. She paints icons as a form of prayer and hopes her work can aid the viewer's prayer. For more information about Dorothy's work, click here to visit her website.