Where Sacred Art Meets the Digital World
Some website projects are simply work. Others feel like something more.
Designing and building the website for Through Grace, the iconography studio of Judith Caldwell, was one of those rare experiences that felt genuinely inspired from start to finish. Judith is a Yountville, California-based iconographer whose hand-painted sacred icons — rendered in egg tempera on wood panel and sometimes highlighted with gold leaf — reflect a lifetime of artistic devotion, spiritual practice, and masterful craft.
When a local art gallery in Calistoga suggested Judith needed a website to reach a wider audience, she and a friend searched online for a web designer whose work felt right. They found Designs by Tierney, and we began what turned into a deeply rewarding collaboration.
About Judith Caldwell and Through Grace
Judith’s path to iconography is anything but ordinary. With an undergraduate minor in Art, a Doctoral Thesis on art in education, and thirteen years as a primary school teacher weaving drawing into daily academic life, art has always been central to how she understands the world. Her work in Art Therapy — including certification from The New School for Social Research in New York City and a professorship at Central Connecticut State University — deepened her belief in art as a transformative force.
After moving to Napa Valley in 1992, Judith continued offering creativity workshops to teachers and Art Therapy collage sessions at retreat centers and spas. In 2000, she answered what she describes as “a calling to the ministry,” earning two Master’s Degrees in Spirituality and officiating hundreds of weddings, baby blessings, and funerals over the following decades.
It was in 2018, during three months of illness and recovery, that Judith first discovered iconography. She was immediately captivated. Over the next six years, she completed nearly forty sacred icons — works depicting the Theotokos, Archangel Michael, Saint Francis of Assisi, Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, and many others — each painted with egg tempera on hand-prepared wood panels, some with luminous gold leaf accents.
Through Grace is where that sacred body of work now lives online — and where icons are available for purchase or by commission.
The Design Challenge: Honoring Sacred Work with a Simple, Elegant Presence
Judith’s work has a quiet spiritual power. Any website designed for it needed to step back and let the icons speak. The design challenge wasn’t to impress — it was to serve.
Judith came to the project with a clear visual reference point: the small printed cards she places next to each piece in the gallery, listing the title, year, medium, and dimensions in a specific font she loved. She wanted the website to carry that same feeling — the artwork presented with care and clarity.
From that starting point, the design direction revealed itself naturally.
The Design Solution: Font Research, Typographic Harmony, and Atmosphere
Typography as identity. Judith’s gallery cards used Celtic Garamond Pro — a typeface with an ancient, sacred character perfectly suited to the world of iconography. I researched and identified the font, licensed it, and built the icon gallery descriptions around it, ensuring every artwork listing matches the understated elegance of her physical gallery presentation. Then I paired it with complementary fonts chosen to work in harmony with Celtic Garamond Pro and to reflect the spiritual, timeless nature of Judith’s art — including the typographic treatment of her business name, Through Grace, at the top of every page.
The gallery card effect. One of the most distinctive design touches on the site is the textured background placed behind each icon’s title, date, and dimensions in the gallery. Inspired by the actual paper cards next to her work at the gallery, this treatment gives each listing the feel of an art label mounted on a gallery wall — a subtle but powerful detail that bridges the physical and digital experience of her work.
Clean, focused layout. The site is intentionally simple: four pages — Home, Gallery, About, and Contact. The homepage greets visitors with three of Judith’s icons displayed in quiet, full-presence beauty, with her name and title set in refined typography. The gallery presents a carefully chosen selection of her work — pieces she has selected to share and invite collectors to purchase or commission — displayed in a clean, scrollable grid. The About page tells her story with warmth and depth. Nothing competes with the art.
Atmosphere over decoration. Every color, spacing, and layout choice was made with one question in mind: does this serve the work, or distract from it? The result is a site that feels like stepping into a quiet, well-lit gallery — unhurried, beautiful, reverent.
Technical Details
- Platform: WordPress
- Domain & Hosting: Selected, registered, and configured from scratch
- Design & Development: Full custom design and build
- Typography: Celtic Garamond Pro (licensed) + complementary font pairings
- Gallery: Custom icon gallery with 27+ works, each with title, year, medium, and dimensions
- Mobile Responsive: Fully optimized across all devices
- Photography coordination: In-person studio visit to help Judith prepare and transmit high-resolution artwork images
A Collaborative, Personal Process
This project was built on genuine connection. I visited Judith in person at her studio in Yountville — sitting with her, helping her understand what image formats and resolutions were needed, going through her existing documentation of each piece so titles, dates, and dimensions could be accurately matched to every artwork.
That kind of in-person collaboration is rare in web design today, and it made a real difference. It allowed me to understand not just the technical requirements, but the spirit of what Judith was trying to share with the world.
Throughout the project, Judith was enthusiastic, trusting, and a genuine pleasure to work with. The site that emerged is, I believe, a true reflection of who she is and what she creates.
The Result: A Beautiful Home for Sacred Art
Through Grace launched as a clean, elegant, spiritually resonant online presence for an extraordinary artist. It gives Judith a professional platform to share a curated selection of her icons with collectors, churches, spiritual communities, and anyone drawn to sacred art — both locally in the Napa Valley and across the country.
Icons are available for purchase, and Judith welcomes commissions for custom work. You can explore her work and reach her directly through the website.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a website for an artist or iconographer typically include?
A well-designed artist website usually includes a curated gallery of work, an About page that tells the artist’s story, a Contact page for inquiries and commissions, and thoughtful typography and design that reflects the tone and character of the art itself. For Judith’s site, we also incorporated a gallery card visual treatment — matching the paper label style from her physical gallery — to give the digital presentation a tangible, intimate quality.
Can Judith Caldwell create a custom icon on commission?
Yes. Judith accepts commissions for custom sacred icons. The best way to inquire is through the Contact page on the Through Grace website.
Do you design websites for artists in the Napa Valley area?
Absolutely. Artist website design is one of the most rewarding areas of my work as a Napa Valley web designer. I have a deep appreciation for visual art and bring that sensibility to every creative website project. If you’re an artist, illustrator, photographer, or maker based in Yountville, Napa, or anywhere in the North Bay, I’d love to talk.
Inspired by This Project?
If you’re an artist, creative professional, or small business owner looking for a website that truly reflects who you are and what you do, I’d love to hear from you.
I offer custom web design and development services for artists, entrepreneurs, consultants, nonprofits, and small businesses throughout Napa Valley and beyond — with the kind of personal, attentive service that makes a real difference.
👉 Visit the Through Grace website to see the finished work.
👉 Contact me to talk about your own website project.
Designed and developed by David Tierney · Designs by Tierney · Napa Valley, California
