Eyes – In classical icons, the eyes are exaggerated a bit – bigger, rounder, more luminous than they are in life. In Mila's art, eyes often dominate. Eyes, she says, are considered windows into the soul. "But it's not just you looking at the eyes. It's also someone watching you (in a good way). You are not alone."

Blue – It's the color of the sky, and in traditional icons it symbolizes heaven.

Gold – Mila uses gold leaf, with its lustrous glow. Traditional icon painters do, as well. Gold makes all light warm. It's a precious element.

Red – Mila's reds, deep and rich, symbolize passion.

Texture – Mila's process starts with special, high-quality plywood from a Swedish manufacturer. She adds layers of gesso as a ground, then starts building up texture with pastes, fabric and thick paints. Sometimes she carves into her surfaces. Often she implants precious metals, base metals and shiny minerals. Color usually comes last.

Surface light – Mila lavishes love on her surfaces. She often uses special metallic paints. They catch every scrap of available light. They glitter in strong light, glow in softer light.

Cut-outs – Sometimes Mila plunges a saw blade right though her pieces and cuts out spirals, crosses and other shapes. They invite the viewer to look within the piece and to wonder what is inside. "We all have something inside," she says, "the spiritual feeling. We're all on a spiritual journey." Sometimes looking at art, looking within art, can take a viewer miles down that road.

Stones – Many of the stones implanted in Mila's work are a special, fossil-rich limestone that is common where she lives. "Stone is timeless," she says. It carries the memories of the ages.

The inspiration – Mila's show comes with a collection of traditional icons made at monastery workshops in the years since a measure of religious freedom returned to Russia. They will be sprinkled in with her work so you can see the influences for yourself.