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Iconography is a visual language; by transcending words and speech, iconography allows Orthodox and non-Orthodox viewers alike to connect to the tradition’s stories, lessons, and emotions. For artist Katerina Spilio, this makes iconography is a spiritual medium for expressing love. 

Raised in a family of artists, Spilio first learned the foundations of iconography from her father. A student of the Athens School of Fine Arts, Archbishop Iakovos brought him to the U.S. to help meet the Archdiocese’s growing need for iconographers. Spilio spent years working alongside her father, observing his techniques and practicing in her own studio.

After completing a degree in English at Pace University, Spilio settled in Hastings-on-Hudson in 1991. There, she balanced raising her daughters with commissioned projects before eventually devoting herself more fully to iconography, a craft that remained deeply intertwined with her father’s lifelong artistic vocation. 

Before establishing her own business, Spilio worked as her father’s assistant on numerous church commissions. Together, they completed projects for Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches throughout the Northeast, including restoration work at Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore and commissions for Catholic parishes across the New York metropolitan area.

Beyond ecclesiastical art, Spilio built a successful career in decorative painting for television, film, and historic restoration projects, contributing to productions including Saturday Night Live as well as films like The Bride and television shows like the John Oliver Show. She also served as the lead artist during the extensive restoration of the historic Hotel Syracuse, overseeing murals, wood graining, stenciling, and the training of a crew working across the building’s 300,000 square feet.

Since her father’s passing in 2013, Spilio has continued her work independently, approaching each project with the same dedication to craftsmanship, beauty, and the hope her work will offer a sense of peace to those who encounter it. 

Though Spilio’s work spans both religious and secular art, iconography has remained at the heart of her career; much of her art is rooted in the traditional Byzantine style of the Greek Orthodox Church. Historically, icons served as visual theology, depicting the life of Christ and the saints for worshippers who could not read. While Western religious paintings often emphasize realism, Byzantine icons invite the viewer’s contemplation and spiritual imagination.

“Icons are supposed to have a somberness, solemnity that shows you the message and perhaps some compassion and understanding and love,” Spilio says. “They’re not realistic enough, so your own mind and spirit have to interpret the image in a way that you understand—it’s personal.” 

For Spilio, every icon is designed to foster peace. 

“I try to create scenes that will bring harmony and settle the spirit so people can go into a church and pray and feel better,” Spilio says.

She believes thoughtful composition is essential to achieving that sense of peace, drawing on her background in fine art to create balanced, symmetrical images that often incorporate the golden ratio. Like handwriting, she says, an iconographer’s brushwork becomes uniquely recognizable over time—a visual fingerprint that distinguishes one artist from another. 

Spilio’s artistic curiosity also extends beyond traditional iconography. In recent years, she has explored applying the geometric forms and flattened perspective that characterize iconography to secular subjects such as family portraits.

“How abstract can I get and still have it be an image that is recognized?” Spilio asks. 

Spilio’s personal artwork also explores questions of language, perception, and justice. Interested in the power of words and their capacity to unite or divide communities, in 2001 she drew on her background in English scholarship to create works featuring words with the vowels removed, inviting viewers to interpret fragments such as “JSTCE” and “FRDM.” The ambiguity sparked strikingly different reactions: some viewers embraced the challenge of searching for meaning, while others objected, insisting that concepts like “excessive justice” could not exist. Through these pieces, Spilio examined how language is never neutral, but is shaped by culture, interpretation, interpersonal relationships. 

Throughout her career, Spilio has also been a strong advocate for women working in sacred art. Although historical customs sometimes limited women’s participation in aspects of church life, she believes artistic vocation transcends gender.

 “We are all equal in art, value, or gender,” Spilio says, noting that she encourages more women to pursue iconography and contribute their gifts to the Church. 

Spilio’s religious and restoration work (individual and studio) includes: 

  • Platytera, Saint Irene Church, Astoria, New York 
  • St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Wyckoff, New Jersey
  • Last Supper, Evangelismos this Theotokou Chapel#1, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
  • Apostles, St. Barbara, St. Irene, Kimisis Tis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church, Brooklyn, New York 
  • Holy Mother, Four Angels, Christ, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Bridgeport, Connecticut
  • Art and design direction, original artwork, historic restoration, and faux finishes, Hotel Syracuse/Downtown Marriott, Syracuse, New York (New York Preservation League Award Winner)
  • Conservation of Jules Breton Painting, restoration of antique frames, Mt. St. Vincent’s College, Riverdale, New York 
  • Art and design direction, Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Baltimore, Maryland

View more of Spilio’s work here.

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