Why I Mosaic
As I work away in my studio, often late into the evening, I sometimes ask myself- why am I doing this? My eyes are tired, my behind hurts from sitting too long and I can feel the beginnings of carpal tunnel in my nipper hand! But more often, I’m in the zone. As I cut the tesserae and place them, one by each tiny one, I experience a feeling of peace and contentment that’s hard to explain to anyone who doesn’t make things. I love the materials - the smalti, pebbles, stone, tumbled glass, gold smalti, jewelry bits, rusty bits, repurposed ceramics, beads, mirror, and did I mention gold smalti? All of it! And I love the repetitive, meditative motion of placing each tessera. The end result? Sometimes I love it; sometimes, not so much. But in the end it’s the material and the act of making that keeps me coming back for more.
This is my first blog post on my new website. It’s taken me longer than I care to admit to get the website up and running. Even though I considered myself relatively techy in a previous life, I ran into many problems with the website that confounded and frustrated me. Again, I found myself asking “why am I doing this? I could be in my studio making things!” But I persevered. Why? Because mosaics are important to me. They are my passion, my obsession, my compulsion. And like any good disciple, I want to convert others to the wonders of mosaic art! I want people to appreciate not only the beauty of ancient Byzantine mosaics, but also the beauty of contemporary mosaic art. I want people to be captured by the incredible depth and breadth of what is being created by mosaic artists today. So with that goal in mind I’ve created a website that I hope will not only lead you to see mosaics in a way you may not have considered before, but also maybe tempt you to give it a try. I hope the site will be a resource for students who have already taken a class with me, as well as an enticement to those who haven’t.
But – lest you think making mosaics is very serious business, think again! It’s definitely fun, possibly therapeutic and maybe even a little addictive. Try it. You’ll like it! I will leave you with a quote by author Kurt Vonnegut:
Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.