Marie-Noëlle Garrigou

Wonder is the common thread of my life. Born in the heart of the icon—my mother was an iconographer and my father is an orthodox priest and iconographic sculptor—nurtured since infancy by liturgical songs and incense, I have naturally become an iconographer and mosaicist.

Wonder leads to beauty, the infinite beauty that that nourishes the heart and the soul, the divine beauty of all of God’s creation.

We were sculpted from clay, and the pigments of the earth also enable an icon to render visible the invisible world. Authentic theology in color is a mirror through which the Holy is reflected. To be witness of it and be able to convey it is for me a true and proper grace.

In the same way, a mosaic’s beauty and splendor have always profoundly moved me. Made of stone and glass tiles, it brilliantly reflects the light, varying each instant in intensity. The first fruit of the light of Resurrection, this Beauty transports us and illuminates us.

Churches adorned with mosaics are treasure chests of beauty, thinks to which we find ourselves in the heart of the Cosmos. What immense joy to be able to carry on this ancestral art.

We are all tiles within a mosaic, each of us magnificent and made even more marvelous when next to another!

Marie-Noëlle Garrigou

Marie-Noëlle Garrigou with her bright smile, her deep sensitivity, her skills in iconography and her enduring friendship, was always ready to support and encourage the project of Academy for Christian Art.
On November 8 2020, Marie-Noëlle was born to heaven as the orthodox Christians say, a beautiful expression that does not soften our sorrow. Those who have had the joy to know her imagine her in the choir of seraphs, writing icons and making eternal mosaics among the saints, transfigured by the beauty she gave us in every encounter on this earth.
In mutual agreement with her husband, our dear friend Zarko, we have decided to pay tribute to the passion she has shown for iconography from childhood and to her long lasting will to make it better known by creating a “scholarship for classes” that will be offered to two students – one in French, one in Italian.
Eternal memory beloved friend Marie-Noëlle.