Igor Suhacev

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Igor Suhacev was born November 21, 1925 in the Former Yugoslavia to Russian parents who fled their homeland after the Russian Revolution. He apprenticed under his father Peter P. Suhacev in ecclesiastical and secular painting, mosaics, iconography and stained glass. The family evacuated Yugoslavia after World War II when the Soviet Army began its occupation.

From 1945 to 1950 he studied art at the Hamburger Akademie in Hamburg, Germany while living in a refugee camp. In 1950 he moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with his parents, where he lived for 7 years. He worked for Emperor Haile Selassie I in the Ministry of Public Works. His work there included 2 churches (frescoes and iconostasis), coats of arms design, plans for Emperor’s Military Hall, exterior gate, and the Emperor’s throne.

In 1957 he immigrated to Canada and settled in the Toronto area, initially working as a draftsman at a Toronto architectural firm. He married Sylvia Yurman in 1961 and moved to Port Credit, raising three children there. From 1961 to 2003 he worked as a professional iconographer, designing and decorating churches of various denominations and ethnic origins in Toronto, Hamilton and St. Catherines, Ontario; Montreal and Roblin, Quebec; Yorkton, Saskatchewan; Chicago, Illinois, and South Bend, Indiana.

Igor Suhacev is credited with the following work in Hamilton:

  • Iconostasis and frescoes at Holy Veil of Holy Mother Russian Orthodox Church
  • Icons and exterior mosaic design at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Slovak Byzantine Catholic Church
  • Building design, frescoes & icons at Church of the Holy Spirit Ukrainian Catholic Church
  • Frescoes at Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Vladimir
  • The Iconostasis at St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church (Barton)
  • The Iconostasis at St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Cathedral (Nash)

 

Igor Petrovich Suhacev