Mosaics

“Mosaics are a new venture for me. I am by tradition a painter and illustrator. I began studying mosaics at the Chicago Mosiac School in 2006. My work combines glass, tile, china, and found objects in such a way as my eye directs – a technique known as Pique Assiette. The shapes, colors and textures dictate a composition that is both abstract and instinctual. There is often a history in my work, as I have kept chips and shards of china throughout the years, representing various times of my life.

In 2007 I received a call for submissions to a show called MISUSE.  The show wanted to explore the premise of reverse functionality, and invited artists to take recognizable objects and give them contradictory meanings.

I came up with the idea of making a cake out of mosaic using shards of glass, ceramic and tile.  Cake by definition is a soft item of food made of sugar, eggs, and flour, and often decorated, thus the contradiction.  This particular cake featured a large pink ceramic rose resting on a bed of porcelain doll hands, each slightly varied in color.  A small plastic toy soldier holding a gun stands on top, and toy letters spell out “Bring Me Home”.  The viewer is attracted to the cake as a familiar item most often associated with joy, comfort, and celebration.  Upon closer inspection, the viewer realizes that these cakes are not meant to celebrate, but to provoke. The domestic becomes exotic, the benign, political. ” – Amy Lowry