If you are an artistic person and is crazy about galleries, Santorini will never let you down. Santorini has a density of galleries greater than anywhere else. Especially Oia, the very northern part of the island, is no doubt a paradise for artist. Not only this popular town itself is a beautiful artwork, but also the people and shops on the island are artistic.
Sunset at the windmill in Oia
Decoration on the staircase by the square at Oia
This Icon Painting Workshop is located at one of the main streets at Oia. The door to the workshop is below the street and the workshop looks like a cave on the mountains. Once you walk into the shop, you will find yourself travel back in time to the Byzantine period. The strong smell of turpentine and paints in the workshop brought me back to the time when I spent in the painting studios. Since the workshop is not bright and the music in the workshop is sacred, you will feel like being in a church and you will started to lower your voice without even realising it yourself.
Front door of the Icon Painting Workshop in Oia. I was only allowed to take one photo.
Dinnitris Kolioussis is the owner of the workshop. He was born in northern part of Greece, came to Santorini at 1985 and started his own workshop. Mr. Kolioussis started learning art since very little. Currently he is focusing on the Byzantine arts but wants to switch to contemporary art.
He is living an ideal life for not only artists but also for many people. He gose to the beach in the morning after he gets up because he like beaches. Then he will have a walk at the beach, picking up some beautiful stones where you can all see on his working table in the workshop. After the morning walk, he will stay in his workshop, sometimes does some studies, sometimes paint. He works for churches too, there are books in the workshop of pictures of his paintings in churches.
A typical bell tower in Santorini. The bell towers are always next to the church.
It usually takes him less than two weeks to finish each paintings, depending on not the sizes of the paintings but how complicated the paintings are. You will see many works that are similar in the shop because he usually repaint his paintings with some slight changes. The preparation process of each painting shockingly is very complicated. The preservation of the paintings also done during the process of preparation. The paintings are usually on old wood doors and windows that come from north Greece. And most of the paintings are actually tempera, a techniques that painters use egg whites to mix the paints. Tempera paintings were popular during the renaissance, around 14 to 16 century. Paintings created with this technique have brighter colors, more subtle textures and last for a longer time than normal oil paintings. But the process of creating tempera paintings is also more complicated and takes more time than normal oil paintings as well.
Decoration on the wall at Santorini
I believe everyone who walked into the workshop will be amazed and affected by the artistic vibe in the workshop and appreciate the artworks no matter they like art or not.
Mr. Kolioussis is a really nice person, he will be really willing to talk with you about anything and discuss about art. Our conversation began when he asked me “are you an artist” when I walked into the shop. However no photos are allowed in the shop.
Decoration on the door at Oia
The reason why Oia and Santorini is so artistic is that both the beautiful view on the island and the long history inspire the artists who came here. Since the creation of the wall painting of the "three ladies" at Akrotiri, artistic is in the blood of people who lives here. just like how the owner of one of the galleries in Oia answered when I asked her why there are so many galleries on the island. "why not?"
