How I’m celebrating my 25 year anniversary with mosaics.
This year marks the 25 year anniversary of my first discovery of mosaics.
I was in college, and on a semester abroad in Seville, Spain. My friend Owen was studying in London at the time, and we decided to meet up in Barcelona. I had never before seen outdoor public art that was so fanciful, so abstract, so colorful and tactile, and it seemed to be everywhere I looked. Gaudi’s mosaics cover entire facades of buildings, and perhaps most famously, they fill the city’s Parque Guell, which feels like a dreamscape that I wanted to never wake up from. The entire city felt magical. Maybe it was the mosaics. Maybe it was the exploration of a whole new city with a beloved friend who I hadn’t seen in a year, who tragically passed away 8 years later. That trip is etched in my mind. The people I met, the smell of the jasmine and orange blossoms at night, the cobblestone streets, the architectural masterpieces, the food. Here’s a picture of me from that trip in 2000, on the rooftop of La Pedrera (photo credit Owen Cahillane).
When I started making mosaics, they were largely inspired by Gaudi’s work and by my memories of that trip. All these years later, my ideas and skills have evolved, and my love of mosaics has expanded to include a multitude of styles and methods, as there are endless ways to approach this art form. But over the years I have continued to collect colorful, patterned china and crockery, using it when possible. Recently, I have started using it in more of my work, and have felt inspired by the combinations of colors and patterns, and all of the stories and memories they carry.
This new work has brought back memories of a mosaic I was commissioned to make about 9 years ago, which is Gaudi-inspired and takes the form of a mosaic quilt. The client for this piece had been saving the shards of all the special dishware that had broken in her house over the years, thinking she would do something special with it for her daughter’s 16th birthday. Her husband had passed away several years back, and many of these special shards contained memories of him. Together we decided that a mosaic quilt would be the perfect use for these treasures. I love this piece because it’s whimsical and playful, yet is embedded with stories and memories, which can be enjoyed by anyone, but are specific to the life of this young woman. It’s something she can keep forever, like a quilt.
Both quilts and mosaics are keepers of traditions, of stories, of memories.
In celebrating my own anniversary with mosaics, I decided to offer a workshop this fall on Mosaic Quilts. I’m honoring the ways mosaics have both woven and smashed their way into my life, celebrating the enchanting and adventurous path I have been on as a result.
This workshop will be held as a 6 week series on Thursday evenings from 5-8 pm.
The dates are: September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23
$365, including all materials. Click here to read the full description and to register.
