An Exhibition Coming Together

We spent Tuesday configuring the movable walls in the museum and Wednesday figuring out where we wanted to put each piece. We did hang Adam & Eve (by Shawn Newton) as a symbolic gesture. They had to be first, after all.

Now, it's Thursday morning. The blank walls are begging to be adorned with mosaic art.

Anne Hyland came to hang her "Garden of Delights." This piece is on 24 panels - each a square foot. Anne spent the better part of an hour and a half measuring and marking where each panel goes. Once the wall was measured, the hanging was relatively simple.

Margaret Ryan and her husband, Lawrence Paolella, planning something. Michael O'Connell is in the background hanging Lori Bradley's Forest Floor.


Michael and Lawrence working on Forest Floor.

Katherine Jaggie came in to help. Here she's hanging our wall of ladies: "Graces of Central Park" by Lynn Moor, "Venus" by Celoni Espinola, and "Carmen" by Gretchen McPherson.

After hanging her enormous piece, "Cycles", Leslie Wallace-Coon takes on a smaller and more manageable "Full Moon Gazer" by Margaret Ryan.

The walls are filling up. In the foreground are Jessica Regelson's Calypso, Thallo, and Europa". Next to these is Linda Dadak's "Iris".

"Che" (by Celoni Espinola) having a conversation with Ann Hyland's "Self Portrait".

More walls and a pedestal adorned with art. Lorie Reilly's globe, "The Brooding Jewel". Ora Avni's "Together Apart" is in the center of the photo.

The photographers - and proud curators - photographing each other.

At the end of the day with all the mosaics hung, we put together a list of everything else to do ... but that's for another day.

The answer revealed

There people took the bait. All had the correct answer:

Jackie Iskander : Jennifer appears to be working barefoot... wouldn't try that with glass... she sure looks comfy...

Lillian Sizemore : The Benefit to working with stone? answer: that you can work barefoot without slicing your feet to shreds

Alissa Turtletaub : I was reading your blog and I thought I'd take a stab at your challenge question regarding the photo of Jennifer Blakebrough-Raeburn. Is that she is working barefoot with no fear of glass shards?

* * *

Yes, yes, and yes. It's been a year since I've worked exclusively with stone, and I haven't cut my fingers once. I can also walk around the house barefoot again.

Jennifer Blakebrough-Raeburn : Mosaic Rocker!

Here is Jennifer Blakebrough-Raeburn, hammer in hand, chipping away at marble while dressed in her fashionable Mosaic Rocks! t-shirt.

Jennifer is a great stone enthusiast. She is currently working on a mosaic of a red-wing blackbird. The bird has a history, starting in smalti but them metamorphosing into marble while still maintaining a touch of smalti. I've seen the beginnings of the mosaic and can't wait to see the finished piece.

This is a very important photo - Study it carefully!!!!

Jennifer is demonstrating one of the most important - if not THE MOST IMPORTANT BENEFIT for working with stone. Can you figure out what it is? If so, email me.

I'll collect any speculations over the next day or so and publish them before revealing this very important benefit.

Old Testament by Jackie Iskander

Yesterday I posted a "random" act of mosaic. Today's posting is a "deliberate" act of mosaic.

This is Old Testament by Jackie Iskander. Up till now, Jackie hasn't worked much with natural stone even though she's been purchasing all sorts of rocks, gemstones, and marble from Mosaic Rocks for some time. This is her first inspiration which includes an ammonite fossil, marble, smalti, coco geode, pyrite, sodalite, turquoise, faceted garnet, and amazonite. It is 14 1/2" x 5 1/2". (I did not reduce this photo - so if you click on it, you will see an enlarged version.)

You may remember Jackie's work from the SAMA exhibition in Mesa. She had the treasure chest and the vase in the show.

I greatly admire Jackie's sense of design and color. I particularly admire the precision in her cutting. You can easily tell from looking at her work that every piece in the mosaic, no matter how insignificant, is deliberately cut to fit exactly in its place. This type of precision and attention is what separates good mosaic artists from the great. And Jackie is one of the greats.

Check out her website.

RAM: Random Acts of Mosaic

Julie Richey sent this photo of an impromptu mosaic created on the shores of Lake Michigan.

"We created this two weeks ago in Door County, WI on the shores of Lake Michigan. It took us two attempts. The first one I had to leave half-finished, and my attempts at public art puzzle cooperation were dashed when someone jumped on it. The second attempt, we finished in two hours and it lasted at least a whole day. I didn't have the heart to go back and check again I think we definitely need more RAM: Random Acts of Mosaic."

They have sandcastle competions - why not mosaic competitions. Perhaps we should find some rocky beaches throughout the country (world?) and organize a day of beach mosaics.

A few years ago when Michael & I were traveling in the Languedoc region of France we found this RAM in a dry riverbed near Minerve.

The Colors of Calcite

YowZZa! Take a look at the colors of these stones.

We recently picked up these pieces of calcite and added them to the Mosaic Rocks store. They are probably the most consistent and rich colors of calcite that I've ever seen. The orange stones look like you can pick them up and eat them.

Extra bonus - the green and blue stones are small and ready to be used or nipped further into smaller pieces. (The orange stones are somewhat chunky and still need to be cleaved.)

Extra extra bonus - we got a great price for these stones and were able to lower the price on half-pound bags.

Stacy Schlegel - Mosaic Rocker!

I'm not that familiar with Stacy's work. I hope we will see more in the future. This piece looks like great fun. It's hard to tell from this reduced photo, but Stacy has a great eye for combining and laying different materials for the background of this mosaic. The order of the background is broken by the gold frame around the bird, set at an angle on the substrate which makes it all the more interesting. I can't wait to see this piece finished.