TOM PARADISE

Tom Paradise comes from a mixed background in art history, materials science, fine art, and architecture in the US and Italy. He later trained in Jordan and Italy in mosaic and architectural conservation to attain higher graduate degrees. Educated in the mosaic arts in Ravenna, Italy’s City of Mosaics, he has produced a number of ecclesiastical mosaics and mosaic installations as well having published articles and chapters on the art, technique and conservation of mosaics. In addition to his work on Mediterranean, North African and Levantine mosaics, he has taught classes and workshops on Roman, Byzantine and Islamic art history and mosaic techniques at the University of Arkansas.

Using one or a combination of the three classical techniques, his mosaics represent saintly and iconographic images seen in churches, baptistries and tombs over 2,000 years. Mosaics today, like years ago, are comprised of individual pieces or tesserae of stone, glass, metal or mineral, held in place with a binding agent like plaster, lime, adhesive or mortar. The tesserae can be placed directly into the binder (in-situ method), adhered to a cloth in reverse that is then overlain onto the binder (reverse method), and/or placed into a temporary binder (like hydraulic lime), then attached to a cloth using a temporary adhesive and then overlain onto the permanent binder (double method).

Using only Orsoni glass and gold from Venice and limestone from the Ozark Mountains, the mosaics created by Tom Paradise radiate with the same materials, colors, and luster as the wall and ceiling masterpieces of the Byzantine churches across the Mediterranean. The gold and glass mosaics in San Vitale in Ravenna, San Marco in Venice, Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, or Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (then Constantinople) for example, were created with nearly identical materials, using similar techniques, and utilizing the same symbolism, imagery and scale.

The Art of the Mosaic is a dying craft that however rare, continues to celebrate the mystical symbolism of Christianity and the beauty of the faith. Used to illustrate the stories of the Old and New Testament and the Apocrypha, while explaining church rituals and rules, these prized Byzantine-style mosaics created by Tom Paradise represent the glory of a saintly age meant to endure another thousand years or more.

Even though these mosaics are displayed and sold set into a hanging oak frame, this frame may be easily removed so that the mosaic plaques may be displayed differently or installed directly in stone, plaster or wood.

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