He began painting icons at the age of twelve and has studied under Russian icon painter Doctor Nina Bouroff in Bethesda, Maryland and Philip Zimmerman at the Saint John of Damascus School of Sacred Arts, an Orthodox school of icon painting in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.
He has created hundreds of icons for private collectors, churches, and other institutions throughout the world. Through his workshops and seminars, he has worked with more than 2,500 students. His workshops give even the most inexperienced painter the skills to paint their own icon.
He also trained with Valentin Streltsov of Toronto, Canada, Nicholas Papas in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Father Damian Higgins at the Sisters of Saint Basil Monastery, Fox Chase, Pennsylvania, Xenia Pokrovsky at Saint Tikhon"s Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania,at the Iconography Institute at Mount Angel Abbey in Oregon, where he studied with Charles Rohrbacher of Juneau, Alaska and with Michael Kapeluck of Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
Pearson also studied architectural drafting and color at the International Institute of Design in Washington, District of Columbia, and theology, with a specialization in liturgical studies, at Saint John"s Seminary in Boston, Georgetown University, and at Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where he graduated magna cum laude, completing a Master of Divinity degree in 1995. His course work included specialized studies on the history of church architecture and liturgical vesture, the role of art in worship, as well as a full year on liturgical consultation.
In early 2016, he received a Th. Doctorate. from The Providence Theological School.
Pearson lives and works in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Formerly a monk at Saint Vincent Archabbey (Latrobe, Pennsylvania), Pearson is a member of the New Benedictine Community, an ecumenical monastic community, and serves as its prior.
