In 2007, I discovered how the craft of mosaics could restore me. Medical problems had left me depleted. Unable to be active and outdoors, I started to stick ceramic orts and fragments on a large wall in our living room. After three months I had finished a mosaic that incorporated broken dishes, figurines, taxidermy eyes, and some artwork from the days when my husband was actively making sculptures and installations -- and I had covered a large wall, a pillar, and part of the ceiling in our kitchen! Boy, was I feeling good. Here's what I wrought:
The past two years have again been hard for me -- discovering that I have an auto-immune disease, combined with troubles at work, has shaken me deeply. Without thinking, "oh, I know, I'll make mosaics," I started to glue stained glass scraps and broken pottery onto another pillar in our house. The color and work on this pillar speaks to the rage and sadness I've been trying to process:
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| The pillar with the door to my studio and an amazing painting by my brother beyond it. |
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| A close-up of the pillar with a view of a sculpture by my husband (it's sporting one of my felted bags) |
Getting my hands back in the glass and starting to work with stained glass fragments (that the wonderful women at Mosaic Oasis in Arlington, MA introduced me to) unleashed a happy monster who has been driving me for the past six months. I've covered more walls (which I'll share another time); but more interesting to me is the work I've started to do on old windows that I've found, bought, or been given (thanks, all, for your contributions!). Here are a few examples of what I've been up to:
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| Thrift store arched window with a mosaic tree |
This was the very first window I did back in January. It's a lot like my mosaics: full of little figurines from my ever-changing collection of glass and porcelain pieces. But working on a window -- and seeing what it looked like with the light shining through it -- totally distracted me from my little bobbles. The windows cried out for just colored glass:
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| Poppies for David |
This was the next to arrive.
It was made entirely of scrap stained glass with no cutting or breaking on my part.
Then....
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| Pixels, anyone? |
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| A door of fire that I made to hide the shamefully encrusted and fogged up window in my office at work |
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| Spring flowers |
There are many other windows by now, but you can see that I've learned to cut glass (a little) and I've experimented with theme and subjects.
This blog is a place for me to chronicle this amazing trip I'm on with my creative work as my life changes in all the right ways. I'm now selling mosaics at a new gallery in Concord, MA called Artisan's Way (here's a link to an article about this new gallery) and I'm working on setting up an Etsy shop. Stay tuned for news of the journey...
