Most of the icons in St. Lawrence Church were painted by Fr. Luke Dingman, an accomplished iconographer and wildlife artist. Fr. Luke, born Rolland Dingman, spent his early life in Arizona, where his parents founded and ran Sunshine Acres Children's Home for homeless and abused children. Here his lifelong fascination with art and wildlife began. As a youngster Rolland had many wild pets, and he often sketched his menagerie, selling his first wildlife painting-of his pet screech owl-at the age of 14.

After graduating from Arizona State University with a major in Fine Arts, Rolland spent the next five years as an illustrator and art director with Campus Crusade for Christ in Southern California. Here he met his wife, Nancy Willman. They married and had their two sons, Joshua and Aaron, while on staff. Daughter Sarah was born after their move to Brookdale, California, where they still live. Sarah is now Sister Seraphima, an iconographer and novice at the Monastery of St. John the Forerunner in Goldendale, Washington.

The Dingmans left Campus Crusade in 1974 and moved to the Santa Cruz area to join one of the ancestor communities of St. Lawrence Church. Here Rolland worked in a variety of art forms, from book illustrations, cartooning, caricatures, and newspaper ads to wildlife and landscapes in oils and watercolors.

As the church community moved toward Orthodoxy, Rolland's spiritual father asked him to begin painting icons because they appeared to be a very important part of Orthodox life. Rolland began to research, study, and paint icons. He attended workshops, joined the St. John of Damascus Society of iconographers, collected all the icons and read all the books on iconography he could find. His early efforts were decidedly American-influenced, but over time he began to appreciate that the Orthodox iconographic tradition is not something that can be improved upon, and his work became more traditional in appearance.

Rolland was ordained as a priest in the Orthodox Christian Church in 1987 with the name Fr. Luke. He began to receive commissions from churches and individuals and was soon able to pursue iconography full-time. He continues his studies, partly through pilgrimages to Russia, Greece, and Israel, where he was excited to be able to study some of the oldest icons in existence. He also contributes to the future of iconography by training students in his small riverside studio.

Fr. Luke considers it the greatest privilege of his life to be able to do something eternal rather than just working for money. "Icons are not just art," he says. "They are imbued with grace and blessings. They represent the reality that we worship at the throne of Christ with His Mother, the saints, and the angels." His icons now enhance the worship of thousands of Orthodox Christians all over the world, but Fr. Luke feels especially blessed to have the opportunity to paint the icons for the new St. Lawrence Church in his more mature style, faithful to Holy Tradition.

Fr. Luke's icons are found in many parishes across the country, in every major archdiocese, and among the reproduction icons and greeting/Christmas cards of the most popular Orthodox and secular publishers. Fr. Luke's popularity has also gained him "official approval" in both the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and, internationally, in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Reproductions of Fr. Luke's icons are available at www.orthodoximages.com. Those interested in hand-painted originals by Fr. Luke may contact him directly at postmaster@lukedingman.com or visit his personal website: www.lukedingman.com.

For more about the meaning and use of icons, see this article in the Orthodoxy section.