Mosaics- beauty from broken pieces

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It is a technique of decorative art or interior decoration. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae; but some, especially floor mosaics, may also be made of small rounded pieces of stone, and called "pebble mosaics".  Thank you, Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic

art...creating...... assemblage......technique....decorative....what's missing?

Wow- fun- breaking stuff- more fun- putting pieces together- design- laughter- permanent- aha moments- new from old- beauty from brokenness....  Mosaic creation is a lot like life. 

Judy collects cool stuff and buys some cool stuff and shares with her students. She's wonderful. 

 We had the practical stuff too.  Containers, paper towels, masks to protect from grout powder, water, q-tips. You need tools and stuff to make beauty from broken pieces.




So many choices.  Some we choose, some choose us.

It starts to come together, a piece at a time. No longer is any piece a part of the original. 

Each adds to the final design.  And the design come together. 

It won't look like what we had in mind but when you first start, it's better not to have a specific end in mind. Be flexible. Let the broken pieces guide you.  Maybe you don't have to be in control. 

Now we rest. We wait.  Let the pieces of glass and ceramic settle into the glue, let the bond form.

If you disrupt this process, the tesserae won't be firmly in place.  The end result will miss what completes it.  There will be a gap, a hole. And that's all you'll see.

We return to Judy's to view our project.  Inspect the solidity of our work. We wiggle tesserae and check that sharp pieces don't extend past the edge.  We're creating art to handle, to feel, to experience with more than just eyes.

Pieces that are loose are re-glued. Security is important to wholeness. It's looking good!

Then we cover the entire board with thick, mucky grout.

 Dark, wet, messy, squishing into cracks and crevasses.  

Cover the pieces, lose the design, bury the thing. 

We've made a mess. Did we screw the whole thing up? 

No.....

We carefully wiped each surface that we wanted revealed. 

Gently removed the grout from the glass and ceramics but left what will hold the beauty in place.

Use tender fingers around shards of broken glass.  Explore with q-tips.

Learn from others. 

Add found objects. 

See what emerges from the process. 

There is more work to do.  Sealing the grout.  Polishing with vinegar water.  But the big work is done.  Now I just get to enjoy. And remember.

Once broken, 

now not just repaired

but repurposed for new beauty, new wholeness. 

Mosaic

God bless you for your kindness and generosity, Judy.  We had a wonderful two days with you.

http://www.pendletonartworks.com/