Joe was first introduced to the art of mosaic in his youth by the Czech artist Manasek in San Francisco. Excited , he dove in and produced wall hangings and tabletop mosaics right off the bat.

 

Soon his life-mosaic took him down a busy road of raising his four children, and the real mosaic were left behind for many years. Then on a visit to Turkey in 2009, Joe saw the beautiful and ancient mosaic from the Roman and Byzantine Empires. On returning home to California he enrolled in the Mosaic School in Ravenna, the so called World Capital of Mosaic, and completed a comprehensive course in mosaic.

 

Not one to shy from a challenge, Joe was told that portraits are the most difficult, and so he made it a specialty.

 

Joe uses glass, stone, marble, ceramic tile and smalti (a special mosaic glass, produced by Orsoni in Venice) to create works such as Isabella Rossellini, Frida Kahlo, and Maria Callas. Mosaic is an art form that takes a long time requiring healthy doses of patience, and Joe has it! He loves the look of the finished artwork, and how it takes him back to ancient times.

 

Joe’s work has been shown at juried art shows throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.