Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was.
Genesis 1:11-12
These mosaic designs are created by Alexander Studios, a husband and wife team located in Southern California, to depict the six days of created from the book of Genesis. The idea came from Rev. Tom Dente, director of the archdiocesan Office of Divine Worship. “The whole idea is to say, we were created by God, we lost our way, and Christ showed us the way back so we could enter heaven,” he said. Since 1973, the Alexander Studio has specialized in Mosaic features, stained glass mosaics, etched glass, decorative paintings, statuary, woodcarvings for cemeteries, churches and other structures throughout the world in both exterior and interior applications in both classical and modern style.
The mosaics are constructed on fiberglass mesh, cut into different shapes and sizes, direct method, using an unlimited color scheme of imported finest Venetian Smati glass and Gold glass. Natural materials are chosen for much of the designs due to their long-lasting qualities, including semi-precious stones from all over the world, hand cut, with polished or raw surface, marble granite ceramics and of course – stones in innumerable tonalities, structures and shapes which with its quiet, unobtrusive colors remains a material for creative design. Each piece of the material is hand cut and shaped in a way the design demands it. A very hard composition is used to hand form unique shapes and textures with surface prepared for gilding with 24K gold leaf. Especially designed enamel pieces are added as a very attractive colorful spots. Deft blending of the colors, more than 1,700 and the graceful flow of all these materials more than million pieces bringing life to the murals with subtle movement and distinctive texture. It took approximately 1,350 hours of work to complete the first two murals from drawings to installation.
