Aidan Hart was born in England in 1957 and grew up in New Zealand. He worked as a full-time sculptor after completing a degree in English literature and a Diploma in Secondary Education teaching. In 1983 he became a member of the Orthodox Church, returned to live in England and there began to work as a professional iconographer. While continuing this work, from 1988 to 2000 he tested his vocation as a novice monk, which included spending two years on Mount Athos and six as a hermit in Shropshire, UK. This intense life of prayer had a profound effect on his work. He is now married with two children, his best icons yet.
Over the past 40 years Aidan has gained extensive experience in a wide range of media: egg tempera panel painting; fresco; mosaic; stone and wood carving; illuminated manuscript painting; church furnishings. He has over 1300 commissioned works in twenty-five countries of the world. In demand as a writer, lecturer and teacher, he has had numerous articles published on the subjects of iconography, ecology and Orthodox spirituality. In 2015 he was elected a Fellow of the Temenos Academy.
He has published three books: Festal Icons: History and Meaning (2022); Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting (2011, 2015, also in Polish), the most extensive work on the subject in the English language, and Beauty Spirit Matter (2014), a collection of essays. All are published by Gracewing, Leominster.