The Earthly Paradise: Icon of the Third Millennium | Egg Tempera & Gold Leaf on Wood | 13" x 13"

“Angela Manno's recovery of the classical mystical tradition through icon painting and projection into the future with her images of the Earth from space is a profoundly creative and spiritual interpretation of our present situation. This image of the Earth from space is our new icon.” — Dr. Ewert Cousins, professor of Theology, Fordham University; former President, American Teilhard Association

Thirty years ago, astronauts revealed a stunning image of a tiny blue orb suspended against the black backdrop of space—planet Earth. This first glimpse of “home,” in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, awed and forever changed our view of the world. Inspired by this spell-binding image, artist Angela Manno has created an exquisite contemporary icon to commemorate the new millennium. A practitioner of the ancient art of Byzantine-Russian iconography for nearly a decade, Manno rendered this image of the whole Earth in the same liturgical method and material used to create traditional icons -- egg tempera, natural pigments from ground-up stones and 23k gold leaf on wood. “As we begin a new Millennium,” says the artist, “it is important to know that this generation and the ones that immediately follow are helping to lay the foundation for the next thousand years. The Earthly Paradise can help develop a reverence for our beautiful planet and consecrate this new era to achieving our full potential -- that of peace and harmony among all people and between humanity and the Natural World.” This unique and contemplative art piece will grace any mantel, home altar or place dedicated to quiet reflection. An original contemporary icon can be commissioned by contacting the artist, or you may order an Open Edition Print.

Reflections:

“ ... a luxuriant Earth community, mutually-enhancing in all its layers and levels of life and being, where the minds of the universe are safeguarded and nurtured; where the creativity of each nation of every species is energized for the total vibrancy and joy of the whole community of beings.” — Thomas Berry, cultural historian, from The Dream of the Earth

“It's so small and so fragile and such a precious little spot in that vast universe that you can block it out with your thumb, and you realize that on that small spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means everything to you-all of history and music and poetry and art and death and birth and love, tears, joy, games - all of it on that little spot out there and you can cover it with your thumb. And you realize that from that perspective you've changed, that there's something new there, that the relationship is no longer what it was.” — Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 astronaut