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MOSAIC

Little Bits of God - 2019- 2020

This commission from The British and Foreign Bible Society in partnership with the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales, is to celebrate the 2020 year of 'St Jerome', translator of the modern bible. It came with an open brief as to how I would respond.  A rare privilege for any artist.

 

The Lock-down year also gave me great focus in the studio to make something as intense as this. It started with research in Ravenna and Venice and grew into this Byzantine style mosaic using materials and techniques that would have been very familiar to Saint Jerome in his travels around the Mediterranean and near East.

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Short film from the Bible Society who commissioned the artwork here

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I created a contemporary byzantine' polyptych mosaic, reflecting the shape of a book, and using a material of St Jerome’s byzantine period. Some contemporary twists hide within the content of the separate 13 panels, It is double sided and the top arch panel is see through/stained glass effect.


I made everything from the woodwork to the steel and mosaic, teaching myself from scratch the ancient skills of this particular direct smalti -mosaic technique. You can find out more about this artwork on a dedicated Instagram page @Little_bits_of_God. You can also watch some of the 'mirco films' used on my social media of work in progress.

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This was commissioned to travel the UK Cathedrals in 2020 but the tour being cancelled for COVID-19. It is temporarily installed at St John Cathedral in Portsmouth. Shown here in use on the Altar space during service. And at Westminster Cathedral where the work in progress was blessed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

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