I found this article online today and feel like I have to share this information to all of the mosaic enthusiasts living on the west coast. Enjoy!
"Although, to date, the time machine is unfortunately just a sci-fi device, everybody can travel back to the past era of Roman Empire, simply by driving to the Getty Villa, in Malibu. The new, exciting and comprehensive exhibition, Roman Mosaics across the Empire (March 30 – September 12), displays a range of exquisite mosaics, spanning from the 2nd through the 6th centuries A.D. Most of them, belong to the J. Paul Getty museum’s permanent collection, but they are now viewable to the public, for the first time. It’s not going to be solely a time travel, but a geographical one, as well. In fact, the magnificent artworks, which used to adorn floors and walls of both private and public buildings, come from the major provinces of the Roman Empire: Gaul - in this case, the southern part, called “Gallia Narbonensis”; North Africa - in particular, “Africa Proconsularis”, coincident with present-day northern Tunisia, northeastern Algeria, and western Libya - and Syria - present-day Turkey and modern Syria. Probably, the most incredible piece of art is a majestic floor mosaic, found in a vineyard near Lago di Lucrino in Baiae (just west of Naples), in 1901. In 1971, the Getty Museum purchased twenty-tree panels of the mosaic, portraying a bear hunt. During the Roman Empire, aside from being a common figurative theme, “venationes” - the staged hunts of wild animals - were a popular form of entertainment, not unlike modern day’s bullfights in Spain. I’ve had the opportunity to hear from the curator of this much anticipated exhibition, Alexis Belis, who, since a very early age, has always loved digging in the dirt, with the hope of unearthing some precious artefact. A Princeton graduate and PhD in classical archaeology, Alexis’ dream came true, as she took part to several excavations in Greece and on Cyprus" more....http.://www.italoamericano.org/story/2016-4-1/roman-mosaics
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