THE MOSAIC APSE OF SANT’APOLLINARE IN CLASSE, RAVENNA: A Miracle of Design Aidan Hart There is some iconography that can only be described as miraculous. Such is the sixth century apse mosaic at the basilica of Saint Apollinare in Classe, five miles from Ravenna, Italy. Such works seem to flash forth, and are never – […]
A TALE OF TRANSFORMATION Two New Mosaics for St George’s Orthodox Church, Houston, Texas Aidan Hart This is the story of how two large mosaics for St George’s Orthodox Church in Houston Texas came to completion this January. The genesis of a mosaic is a tale of transformation, from sand to glass, to image, […]
This past fall I had the opportunity to visit a construction project that is nothing short of a miracle. I saw a group of mostly volunteers and amateurs, working with small donations, building a church to rival any monument in the history of Christendom. The project was recently completed, consecrated by His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill, […]
I have already posted an article on Contemporary Georgian artists. But it seems like every week I discover one more amazing Georgian artist doing things in repoussé, wood, stone, enamel or mosaic that very few are able to equal in quality and especially in vivacity. Vivacity is really the world to use, an art that is confident and […]
Last year, I promised our readers that I would try to create an opus sectile icon, that is an icon that joins different stones together to make an image. I recently had the chance to create something that is a mix of carving and mosaic and is probably as close as I am going to […]
Having studied mosaics all over the world for many years I was delighted to receive a commission last year to create a mosaic for a church in Wales. I completed the illustrated mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in March this year. It is sited on the exterior wall of St Martin’s Church of Wales in Roath, […]
There is a relatively famous image of St. Eudocia from the 10th or 11th century from Constantinople that has recently caught my attention. It is done in a technique called Opus Sectile. Unlike Mosaic which is the assembly of similarly shaped squares forming a pattern, Opus Sectile is when stone is cut in different shapes […]