Julie Richey is a true Renaissance woman
Well, it's genuinely an concept Julie Richey's been perfecting for a while. I imply test out this:
This piece is her L’Ambasciatrice, The Ambassadress in English. Clearly, this is a woman of uncommon talent and a terrific sense of humor.
This is a element shot from L?Ambasciatrice. It's in reality stunning.
So tons of what appeals to me approximately modern-day mosaic art is how effortlessly it rests on the shoulders of the historical masters who perfected it. Contemporary mosaicists use an ancient medium to speak a modern factor of view and I find it to be thrilling. I see in it the very essence of Western Civilization.
That mosaic survived to the modern era is due in a huge part to its use in sacred artwork. Mosaic is everlasting and airy on the same time and it made the appropriate medium with which to beautify a church. Many of those church buildings nevertheless exist, and probable the most well-known one is St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The first time I stood underneath this dome and appeared up is a moment on the way to stay with me for the rest of my existence. I didn't have a non secular epiphany, it become more a human epiphany. Some of the best minds of the final 500 years stood on that same spot and looked up to see the equal component I saw. Frescoes and art work age and darken. Mosaics are all the time and St. Peter's ceiling seems today just because it did whilst it turned into a brand new building 500 years in the past.
I bring that up for multiple motives, the primary of that's that Julie Richey creates sacred art as a part of her oeuvre. Here's an overview of a baptismal font from a church in Fall's Church, VA. The design capabilities Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the Four Evangelists.
Early Christian icons portrayed St. Luke as a winged bull, St. Mark as a winged lion, St. John as an eagle and Matthew as a winged guy. These symbols come from a prophesy located in the Book of Ezekiel and in referring to them, Julie Richey simply positioned a current area right into a ancient context. It's a pretty incredible achievement and she does it with the subtlety of a whisper. Julie's use of historic symbols rendered in an historical medium in a contemporary layout for a space where an ancient ritual could be performed makes a circle via 3,000 years of records. It's genius, however a honestly quiet genius.
This is St. Matthew below construction.
This is a detail shot of St. Matthew's eye.
The face of St. Matthew.
A detail shot of St. Matthew's palms.
This is the artist herself putting in St. Matthew.
Matthew being grouted into the floor.
The finished St. Matthew.
Stunning paintings, all of it.
Despite the rambling nature of this post, there is a thread that is approximately to tie it collectively. A couple of weeks ago, Julie left a comment here after considered one of my current posts about mosaic art. She stated that she leads excursions of Rome with an emphasis on the mosaics to be observed there.
Julie guides these tours along with an art professor and together, they operate out of the University of Dallas' campus in Rome, Due Santi. Read more about this guided excursion here . Every square centimeter in Rome is full to overflowing with nearly 3,000 years worth of significance. I've always wanted to take a casual walk through those streets with someone who could explain everything to me. I think I found the opportunity.
So after all that, the artist as three-dimensional mosaicist, the artist as iconographer, the artist as art historian. After all that, the woman can still pull off a wall or a floor like nobody's business. Brava! Go check out the rest of her gallery on her website . It's some amazing stuff.
