Day 2: Mark Dukes

The paintings of iconographer Deacon Mark Duke of St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church live at the intersection of jazz, visual art, and spirituality.

Prints of Duke’s iconography are available for sale online in the St John Coltrane Church gallery.

Three things:

1. Mark Dukes is an ordained deacon and the official icon painter of the St. John Coltrane Church. He read the Bible for the first time in his early 20s.
2. Dukes other works include: “Dancing Saints Icon” in the rotunda of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, and “Ain’t Jah Momma and Saint Sambo.”
3. A Love Supreme, a 4-part musical suite generally considered to be among jazz saxophonist John Coltrane’s greatest works, is an emotional and spiritual journey written and performed as an offering to God. The four parts to the suite are “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance,” and “Psalm.”

Where to find more information on:

Mark Dukes:

• My Apocryphal Musings. [Mark Duke’s blog]
• Interview with Coltrane Icon Painter Mark Dukes and Archbishop Franzo King
• Jesus the Dancer, Part 5: The Art of Mark Dukes

John Coltrane

• John Coltrane
• St John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
• St John Will I Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church – Jurisdiction West on Facebook
• NPR: ‘The Story of A Love Supreme’ by Eric Westervelt

A documentary short on The Saint John Coltrane Church in San Francisco is available online.