General
I’ve created this new cover page for my Facebook Shop button to direct people to either my fine art site or my decorative site. Over the weekend, I added an Available page to my main navigation on my fine art site, making some works available for purchase.
I have a few small pieces, for under $100, and then various sizes and prices from there, and I’m including shipping. Take a look!
Activate the Midline, by Lynn Adamo
A Silver Lining is a gorgeous virtual exhibition presented by the Bandon Library Art Gallery and curated by Tracy Hodson. The current situation with the COVID-19 virus has forced what is usually a very strong actual exhibition into an equally compelling virtual one. The above work by the amazing Lynn Adamo is your first clue as to the quality of the work that you should expect to see.
From Curator Tracy Hodson, except from A Silver Lining essay:
I went to Art School to become a filmmaker, and spent 15 years making films until illness ended that part of my life. When, many years later, I fell in love with mosaic art, one of the things I responded to immediately was the sense of community that mosaic artists create around them, a quality this form shares with filmmaking…So this virtual show is in honor of that atmosphere, that sharing environment where we can all grow our work, test our ideas and experiments, admire others and be admired in turn, share laughs about our errors and get ideas about how to fix them, and generally enjoy the company of our fellows in this difficult but wonderful medium. Thank you all for joining in, and making it so easy and pleasurable for me to get the virtual show together. Keep working!
In The Garden Quietly (2012) 10" x 12.5" | 25cm x 32cm. Marble, smalti, contorno, vitreous, shale.
What a nice way to start the day!
In The Garden Quietly
Continuum, in situ 12” x 51” | 30cm x 130cm.
Continuum, a four-paneled, four seasons-inspired work is my feature for this Friday. This is another one of my mosaics whose creation spanned a number of years. I started it in about 2007and had completed the Spring and Winter panels (first and fourth) and got barely started on the blue portion of the Summer panel (the second) before getting distracted. I had not quite figured out the palette for the rest of it and was not terribly passionate about the whole color-block concept. It was one of those What was I thinking? kind of things.
Continuum (2013) 25" x 49" | 64cm x 124cm (4 panels each 12" x 24" | 30cm x 61cm). Stone, smalti, porcelain, mosaic gold, minerals, broken ceramic, metal, glass, shells, coral, Swarovski crystal. A four seasons-inspired work.
Years later, when cleaning out my studio in 2013, I came upon the panels. The substrates themselves were a little pricy, being aluminum-framed hexite, and there was a lot of fine work and good materials invested so far. I had to decide what to do: Scrap the Winter and Spring panels and remove the bit of blue on Summer, giving me two empty substrates, or finish the darn thing.
Continuum: Summer, detail
Continuum: Summer, detail
Continuum: Fall, detail
Yep! I finished it. It always feels quite satisfying to go back and finish up a work that I had given up on, and then to be happy with the result. I really did enjoy making these, playing with mixing materials and textures. And I like that they can be grouped different ways.
If I Were A Tree, in situ
This mosaic might have been the last mosaic I made before deciding to take a sabbatical from making mosaics. When I started this, I intended to work more loosely and not be a perfectionist. All went fairly well until I started the gold sky. Then, it became a miserable mosaic-making experience as I slipped into my old perfectionistic ways. I knew I had to take some time off to contemplate exactly why I was spending so much time and energy, not to mention money, doing something that was so stress-inducing.
If I Were A Tree (2014) 31" x 47" | 79cm x 119cm. Mosaic gold, shale, marble, smalti, porcelain, ammonite fossil.
My sabbatical turned into a quasi sabbatical during a renovation that included my new studio space. In organizing all my mosaic stuff and getting ready to move things around, I decided to tinker with finishing up an old mosaic. Still committed to no new work, I spent a little time each day finishing up the old work.
If I Were A Tree, detail
By the time my new studio was all set up, I was still finishing that old piece and not ready for any new work. I took care of some light, maintenance-type of work. Slowly, I felt like I had done enough interior work to get back at it, and I made a couple of small pieces. Then, I tackled finishing a huge almost 20-year old mosaic and finished it!
Since then, I have been enjoying mosaic-making more than ever. I still strive for precision, which sometimes flirts with perfectionism, but I am able to mediate it without much stress. So, this mosaic, If I Were A Tree, was the tipping point, I suppose, that ended up getting me to a better place with my art. Funny how things work out.
Beginner’s Mind № 1-4, in situ. Each mosaic 11” x 9” | 28cm x 23cm. Smalti, vitreous, other glass, mosaic gold, stone, porcelain..
This Friday I am featuring a series that I made in preparation for a mosaic course I was giving. The theme was textural mosaics, and they would be in this predetermined palette. I wanted to prepare myself for teaching beginner students using such a variety of materials.
Beginner’s Mind № 1, with detail
With my first attempt, № 1 (above), I realized that I was not in a beginner’s state of mind and had created a mosaic too complex. № 2-3 (below) were much more successful and feasible for a beginner.
Beginner’s Mind № 2, with detail
Beginner’s Mind № 3, with detail
№ 4 (below), while being more challenging than the previous two, was not as difficult as the first one.
Beginner’s Mind № 4, with detail
Of course, none of the students wanted to attempt the more feasible ones once they saw the other two. So I learned to be more careful in what I present as possibilities.
Nocturne, in situ
Nocturne is the second in my Music To My Eyes series. These works are inspired by a classical music form, and then by a particular piece of music in that form. The series’ first is an exception in that it was not inspired by a particular piece of music in an etude form, but by the general concept of an ABA etude.
This mosaic, Nocturne, was Inspired by Chopin's Nocturne in C# minor, Op. 27 No. 1.
In addition to the inspiration itself, a requirement of the series is that the primary aspect of the inspiration be expressed using mosaic gold in a grid format, aka opus regulatum.
Nocturne (2009) 17" x 25" | 43cm x 61cm. Mosaic gold in black, gray, and white, smalti, vitreous, granite. $850
Nocturne, detail
Again, I have used the Artrooms app to stage my mosaic in a room. I was lucky to find a room setting that is wonderfully suited for my mosaic.
Somewhere around 2003, when I was dabbling in a lot of different types of decorative mosaic applications, I made this clock using antique china, Van Gogh glass, and vitreous glass for the edge. It is actually a pretty little piece, with soft, aged gold highlights in the china which are not evident in the photos. It seemed to catch the eye of my mother-in-law, and when we visited Egypt for the first time in 2005, I gave it to her as a gift.
It is approximately 12” diameter, and I bought the mdf base and clock mechanism from one of the mosaic suppliers. It appears that I used a mastic for adhesive. How do I know this? Because of the remnants showing where a few of the edge tiles have fallen off, as edge tiles are wont to do.
After my mother-in-law’s death, I know that the clock was moved around and stored here and there. My husband brought it back on his return from his recent visit to Cairo. It is not at all my style, but I will replace the missing tiles and then figure out what to do with it.
Generally, at this point in my mosaic career, I know better than to apply tiles to an edge like this, especially on a wood base. But I know how tempting it is.
Close-up view of Anthony James’ Portal Icosahedron (large)
Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day here in Tulsa, OK, and equally beautiful at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, AR. This museum is a stunning architectural achievement and has an equally stunning collection of American art, as well as fantastic visiting exhibitions. There are also beautiful outside exhibits and trails. Visiting this museum is always a treat!!
The coolest thing I saw yesterday—and there were many—was a work in the Crystals in Art visiting exhibition. Portal Icosahedron, small and large, (2019), by Anthony James (check out his home page), images below, was just so brilliant and mesmerizing that I spent at least 15 minutes experiencing it. The museum’s description reads:
Inspired by the cosmetology of Plato and drawing from minimalism, the Light and Space artistic movement, and conceptual art, Anthony James constructs these steel icosahedrons—a polyhedron (a three-dimensional solid object) with 20 faces and 30 edges—at varying scales. With no beginning, middle, or end, the large-scale steel sculptures are lined with transparent mirrors. Inside, James creates an illusion of infinite space, nodding to the ancient concept of the universe as a set of concentric planetary orbits.
Looking into the large icosahedron gave me the deepest experience of infinity that I can remember. The affect was hypnotic and magnetic—it must be what space seems like to an astronaut who is in it. If this single work in this single exhibit were all that I saw yesterday, the 4 hour round trip would have been worth it.
These two books are on SERIOUS SALE! because they are not in perfect condition. This sale applies to orders being shipped within the U.S. only.
CREATIONS—$10, including shipping. The first batch of CREATIONS had a slight binding defect that affected the last few pages. So, we printed again and sent it to a different binder, who did a perfect job. You can see pics of the binding issue on the order page, and see a preview of the gorgeous book as well. CREATIONS Order Page
Edible Bits & Pleasing Pieces—$10, including shipping. I also have a some copies of Edible Bits & Pleasing Pieces. These were left over from a larger group that were for sale at a gallery, or are the remains of Amazon inventory. They are in fine shape except the covers show a bit of wear, and they may have an Amazon sticker or sticker residue on the back. I only have a few of these. You can also preview this book on the order page. Edible Bits & Pleasing Pieces Order Page
Over the years, I’ve sold a nice number of my mosaics and had a few very rewarding commissions. This degree of success is remarkable when considering the fact that I am generally terrible at promoting my work, to the point of being negligent. A generous dose of introversion augmented by some kind of insecurity inhibits my self-promotional ability.
I’ve pondered this lack of whatever-it-is for years and have sometimes concluded that I just don’t believe in myself/my work. I suppose that could be a factor. However, I really like my own creations. Sure, there have been a few flops, and those do not see the light of day under the internet spotlight. Otherwise, I make things that I enjoy and consider beautiful or meaningful—things that I want around me and that I enjoy seeing every day.
So, I believe in my work for myself, but the bridge to trying to convince anyone else that they should give my work a look—much less like it—is just a bridge too far. Sure, I’ll share new work on Facebook, and I have a website, but I can’t bring myself to actively promote my work. I’m envious of some of my fellow mosaic artists who have that whatever-it-is that keeps them sharing their work, new and old, on a regular if not daily basis. They deserve the exposure and income that result from such efforts.
Clearly, if I needed to be making a living, I would never survive by making art as I would probably crumble under the pressure of trying to promote myself. I am very fortunate to be able to explore making mosaics without the pressure of having to make money off them. Still, sharing my work and trying to sell it is important to me, if for no other reason than to pay for materials. I don’t think I’ve ever sold anything over my fine art site, but I have had some success with sales resulting from exhibitions, and I am so very grateful for that.
Storyteller (2018) 10" x 7" | 25cm x 18cm, without frame. Stones, marble, petrified shell, smalti, mosaic gold.
Finally, I get to the heart of what this post was about when I started it. Over the summer, I had a few pieces in the Traditions Kept & Broken exhibition in Bandon, OR, and I was so happy to have sold them all!
One, in particular, would never have been for sale except for the fact that I knew the person who wanted to purchase it. I don’t think I could have sold that piece to anyone else and it was a difficult parting for me.
Storyteller, at right, is that mosaic. You can read more about this piece here, which explains my difficulty in parting with it.
I find it such an honor when someone likes my work enough to want to have it in their home and spend their money on it, and I am very humbled by it.
Still, don’t you find that some works are difficult to part with?
A retired geologist has purchased this pair of mosaics from my In the Woods series after seeing them in the 5th Annual Mosaic Show in Bandon, OR. I hope they bring her pleasure for many, many years!
Meandering (2014) 12" x 12" | 30 cm x 30 cm. Stone, porcelain, glass, mosaic gold.
Trespassing (2014) 12" x 12" | 30 cm x 30 cm. Stone, porcelain, glass, mosaic gold.
Tracy Hodson has once again curated an impressive mosaic exhibition for the Bandon Library Art Gallery. This annual exhibition continues to attract a diverse representation of contemporary mosaic art. Through thoughtful essays and sensitive curation, Tracy offers a deep and informative perspective on mosaic art, which enriches the exhibition experience for all who are fortunate enough to view it.
Please enjoy this year’s essay and a photo tour of the exhibition here.
Familial Wounds (2019) 27” x 36” | 69cm x 91cm. Italian, Mexican, and a bit of Chinese smalti, mosaic gold, Lyric unglazed porcelain. Digitally created frame.
This photo is a better quality than the one I posted yesterday (at right). It was taken outside in morning light. Although I adjusted it to warm up the natural coolness of the light, it still looks a bit cool. I think part of it is that it has a little more reflection going on, which does help bring out some of the texture.
I prefer the photo in studio lighting, probably because this is closest to what I see when I look at it. But the above photo is sharper and shows more detail.
Lighting can be quite vexing for an amateur such as myself.
Familial Wounds, studio lighting
About Familial Wounds
I think of familial wounds as being the psycho-emotional wounds that occur in our upbringing, especially through neglect and abuse. Another dimension to these wounds is that they are often ancestral, going back some number of generations. Until one is able to recognize an unhealthy family dynamic, well… it’s just your family and you have no frame of reference from which to have any judgement on it. It’s just how things are. Ignorance obscures your vision. Until an unhealthy family dynamic is recognized, it continues to be perpetuated. At the moment when there is recognition that things are not healthy—not good—a choice can be made.
By some magical confluence of happenings, I was able to recognize my own family’s very unhealthy and destructive dynamic, which began my escape from that dynamic, that worldview. While the word escape is fitting, it is also somewhat lacking because, although I escaped it, it has never left me.
My choice to follow a very different path and develop a very different worldview—a different way of seeing the world and my relationship to it—was the right choice, but it was not easy. I became an outsider in my own family, and as time went on and I continued on my path, it became more and more difficult to maintain a relationship with my parents and siblings. They could only interpret my behavior and choices through the lens of their worldview, the worldview that I was rejecting.
My family did not see an unhealthy dynamic, nor could my parents see the unhealthy dynamic in their own childhoods. So, through ignorance, it was perpetuated. The wounds live on, and are passed on, like DNA. Some wounds are like open wounds, being aggravated by all the things outside of us. Some wounds are just embedded in our tissue, recognized and healed, but they leave their mark. They change us, and in that sense they never leave.
This mosaic came out of my own experience and ruminations on familial wounds. As I was working on it, I began realizing that although I have succeeded in escaping that damaging worldview, and I have succeeded in developing what I believe is a healthy and good worldview, I can feel that old dynamic as viscerally as if I were still a part of it. I am not a part of it, but it is part of me.
So, the dimensional rings in the mosaic represent recent, open, and/or festering wounds. The embedded rings represent wounds that have healed and only their imprint remains. The gold lines represent energy: this could be seen as our body’s natural healing energy, as divine energy—grace, or just consciousness. To me, they are all of those. Of course, the color is meant to suggest tissue, raw emotional tissue. The gradation from dark to light represents hope. The dark swoops from top and bottom—defined by absence of material and connected to the outside border—can be interpreted as darkness, or the perils of the outside world. At one point, I thought of them as the daggers of life. The mosaic as a whole speaks to the healing process—we can recognize our wounds, make different choices, and heal. However, the wounds leave their mark, a testament to change and growth that helps define who we become.
Though the initial concept was of emotional wounds, it evolved toward what is for me the more potent issue of familial wounds. And I can’t say that I had even thought of it in those terms before. The work helped me more fully understand that it is familial wounds that have left their mark on me, and led me to the life I live. Bless those beautiful wounds!
Photo: Fadel Iskander
Here’s a slideshow of my best photos from our time in Europe in September.
Rhythms: July (2008) 8” x 8” | 20cm x 20cm. Sodalite, granite, smalti, piastrina, shell, lapis, glass, Swarovski crystals.
Rhythms: October (2008) 8” x 8” | 20cm x 20cm. Marble, travertine, onyx, porcelain, vitreous, carnelian, chrysoprase, piastrina, other glass, seed beads.
I was very happy to have sold a few mosaics at the Bandon Library’s 4th Annual Mosaic Show in June, in Bandon, OR. The two pieces, above from my Rhythms series found new homes, as well as the two minis below.
These were two of six little mosaics I did as part of the 2008 MAO Monthly Challenge. Their titles reflect the theme of the challenge.
Memoryware 3” x 2” | 8cm x 5cm. Broken Spode, costume jewelry, glass beads.
Architecture 3” x 2” | 8cm x 5cm. Onyx, hematite, shell, glass, Swarovski crystals.
“Contrary to opinions previously held by me, I hope to show that the medium of mosaic, rather than being painting with stones, or sculpture, is an art whose essential quality is texture and luminosity. This comes from the fact that the tesserae are placed in the cement so that they can reflect the smallest light. Painting also depends upon luminous vibrations, but with this difference—in order to see them they must be lit by a direct light which is not the case with mosaic since the facets of glass reflect their color and light when a minimum of light exists. A wall clothed in mosaic thus becomes a presence.”
The above video takes a closer look at my mosaic Storyteller.
Someone wanted to know why I thought the andamento for my recent mosaic, Homage To Kilauea, was so difficult. I must clarify that just because it was difficult for me does not mean that it would be for everyone. I doubt that someone like Giulio Menossi, who has truly mastered a very refined andamento in his stunning portraiture work, would have been as challenged on this piece as I was. This kind of refined andamento requires, I believe, a whole lotta practice.
Looking back over my years of mosaic experience, I feel like I have only dabbled in this kind of andamento. Without years of experience doing this kind of thing, I find it is vital to draw out the andamento, piece by piece. I did not do that with this mosaic because, when I started it, I was just playing around. As I progressed on the work, my innate sense of seriousness and challenge led me to take the andamento more seriously than I had initially intended.
So, what was so difficult about it for me? Three things:
With such small spaces in which to work, I felt like a more refined andamento would best express the flow that I wanted. My study with Menossi doing portraiture is the most refined andamento I have ever worked with, and the most difficult. Expressing the contours of the face, flowing in and out of the shadows and angles and fullness and hollows of a face, using andamento as well as color and shading, is a demanding technical skill.
I worked with this kind of refined andamento on a recent work, Storyteller, but to a much lesser degree than I attempted here. After completing this work, I've decided to do another work incorporating this kind of andamento. I'll blog about it as I go, starting with my next post in the next few days. The piece will be similar to this one and will present the same andamento challenges. Let's see how I do.