Artist Watch: Lynn Dubnicka

Meet Lynn, aka SiriusMosaics on Flickr. I came across her mosaics some time ago now and it’s been a really great journey watching her work come to be. She’s fast and what I love about her work is the fact they are playful - whimsical without being garrish. I look at her ever-growing body of work and it makes me feel good, really good!

Originally from the mid-west, Lynn moved around the east coast in her 20’s and 30’s until finally settling in North Carolina where she lives with her husband and three Dobermans, Gretchen, Merlot and Wolfgang. When not making mosaics, she enjoys working in the yard and reading.

Lynn grew up in a family that is very crafty, and thinks genetics plays a part in her creativity. As a little girl, Lynn sewed clothes, quilted and drew. As a teen she made macramé jewelry and did cross-stitch. She is an absolute dog lover and obviously finds alot of solace in them, as she writes: “I made and sold jewelry in the mid 1990’s, but after my muse, Sarah the Doberman, went to the Rainbow Bridge at a young age in 2001, I was so broken hearted that I never touched another piece of jewelry.”

In 2006 Lynn created SiriusMosaics, in memory of Sarah, with the thought that she is now one of the stars in heaven. “I think I started doing mosaics because I didn’t have control over events that happened in my life, but I did have control over my mosaics from the first image in my head to the finished piece.” Mosaics also have a calming effect on her as she fits and cuts each piece, allowing her mind to be quiet.

Lynn started with covering flower pots with shards of Italian pottery and found objects. “I would look at artists work on the internet for inspiration and I think that is how I got interested in doing mosaics in stained glass.” In the spring of 2007 she bought herself a glass cutter and a pair of wheeled nippers and covered any 3D object she could find such as a frog planter, a Buddha head and some rocks. It is from here that Lynn has progressed to what she is creating now.

Lynn has no formal art training and is self taught from books and trial and error. Her ideas usually come to her while lying in bed trying to sleep and while sitting around looking at catalogs (”Yes, you can find inspiration in catalogs”, she exclaims. LOL). Interestingly she states “…my mind is racing with thoughts. I don’t feel I have found my style yet and sometimes feel frustrated. I find myself frantically trying to finish a project to get started on another – like there is something inside me that is trying to speak out in my art.” Lynn is one of my e-mosaic friends that cranks out her work. She is fast but it doesn’t seem to detract from the finished piece, in my humble opinion. I admire that about her, about anyone that can work fast and still make great decisions along the way…

She has recently opened a store on Etsy.

Finally the Artiste in question:

Artist Watch: Cristina Colli

I first came across Cristina’s work via the Mosaic Yearbook in 2006 (her work is also featured in the 2007 collection). Her two pieces submitted in the 2006 Yearbook spoke volumes to me - I understood her sensibility in design and loved the inspiration. I was pleasantly surprised when she started posting to the yahoo groups and when her website went up.

Though Cristina now resides in Ireland, she is Italian and spent most of her life in Tuscany in a small coastal town near Siena, Florence and Rome. Her fascination with art began as a young girl when she would visit these cities, spending time in museums and old buildings and, as she says, breathing in the art. Venice, a city full of art, was yet another place that enthralled her. She particularly loved watching the artists working with glass, a material she has always been fascinated with.

Her Uncle is a painter and she would spend hours just watching him paint or examining his art books, the smell of linseed oil and turpentine in the air. She writes “Art Nouveau enthralled me, I love curves and organic shapes and forms. Klimt is one of my favourite artists ever. I also love Gaudì, I remember being in Barcelona and admiring Casa Batlò, Parc Guell, la Sagrada Familia… I love Islamic Art, too, and I was fascinated by the Alhambra in Andalucia.”

Crisitina’s formal education is actually in accounting and she worked in a bank for over 10 years, killing her creativity in the process. The year 2000 seemed to be a pivotal point in her life when she packed up and moved to Dublin with her husband. It was then she decided on a career change. She enrolled in an Interior Design course at the Dublin Institute of Design and it was here that she discovered mosaics. The students were asked to make a mosaic - a mirror frame inspired by art. She bought herself the necessary tools, her first mosaic book (Decorative Mosaics by Elaine Goodwin) and read and read to grasp the technique. What resulted was Moon Mirror. Her second project was a table, inspired by Islamic art. She fell in love with mosaics and has not looked back since, starting her mosaic business in February of 2007

The aspects she loves most about mosaic are its tactile quality, the slow, almost meditative nature of creating a mosaic, the fact that fragments are assembled together to create a whole, and its permanence and durability. Cristina is captivated by colour, shape, texture and light reflectivity, which she is constantly exploring to bring a sense of movement and fluidity to her art.

Her inspiration comes from her emotions, her vision of the world and her observation of nature. Cristina incorporates lots of different materials into her work - vitreous glass, ceramic, stained glass, mirror, smalti, gold, rocks, beads, millefiori, mother-of-pearl, slate, minerals, the list goes on. Cristina says “every time I go for a walk at the beach I always look for interesting shells, pebbles, rocks, fragments of china, beach glass…even my husband helps! Sometimes he comes back for a walk with a shell, a flat stone, bits of slate fallen off a roof…I like to integrate these one-off pieces in my art, and I also like the recycling element, or the fact that you can incorporate mementos from childhood or holidays, odd pieces of jewellery, bits of metal…”

Cristina is a member of the British Association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM). Her work has been exhibited in:
Italy, Tuscany – June 2006 – Art & Craft Exhibition in Marina di Grosseto
U.K., York, York Minster – BAMM Miniature Exhibition “Symbols of Faith”, September 2006
U.K., Fishbourne Roman Palace – BAMM Exhibition “Inspired by Rome”, July-August 2007

Her work was not only published in the catalogues of both BAMM Exhibitions but was also featured in the advertising posters. She has also been chosen to take part in a group blog of Irish artists.

Curently, Cristina is working on a piece for the BAMM miniature exhibition “Waterways” which will be held in London in September and October 2008. She is also experimenting on a small 3D piece using fibreglass mesh, thinset and polystyrene (to make the sculpture) which she will then mosaic. I look forward to seeing her new work!!!

“Reaching for the Dream symbolises the universal search for our Dream. In this quest, we encounter obstacles and resistance (background movement portraying strong water currents) but also hidden treasures of clarity, seeds of growth and joy (millefiori, silver).”

“Emergence is a metaphor of the effort to break the outer shell (slate) and be true to my Self, trusting my inner voice (smalti and gold) and allowing it to speak.”

This piece is a celebration of a spiritual rebirth…

Roman Rosette

House Number - I love how Cristina can make something as simple as a house sign look just as delightful as her fine art mosaics.

Mosaic in Film: Spiderman 3

Time for a new series I think… I’ve been wanting to start this for a while actually as it’s merging two of my passions, that is mosaic (if you havn’t already guessed) and films. The two are a complete escape from the real world for me and I’ve always loved the movies!!!

Unfortunately I don’t get out to see one as often as I used to, though that is starting to change a little. I’m not as picky about the films I’ll watch either Spiderman 3 I watched on the big screen whenever it was out - long time ago now. (Yes, folks I really paid to go see this movie in the theatre!!!). Well for a bit of a fluff movie (aka a no brainer) I enjoyed it. But what I noticed was the mosaic (the highlight for me, lol!). In the scene when Emo-Spiderman is seeing the light about his emo-ways and starts to rip off the black, Eddie is downstairs praying to God to kill Peter (that’s really the story!). I noticed the tile work in the church and thought to myself “hmm, interesting”. Then the bell is hollering and the black comes off Spidey only to land on Eddie down below… who is standing on top of a large mosaic installation

I have no idea who designed this set… but it was a nice detail.

Disneyland Mosaics

While in CA, we took the kids to Disneyland. Their first time and my 1st time as a parent… It’s an odd place I tells ya. I had a load of fun, but it’s an odd place! Of course what I did notice all over everywhere were the mosaics. In Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure Park and Downtown Disney. See?! It is an odd place. It’s like a city all it’s own! I was rather taken aback at the money spinner that it is. Here we are with global poverty, shortages on basic foods and then here in the West there’s Disneyland, where I don’t know how many tens of thousands of dollars get turned over in a day. Kinda crazy. But that’s not the point of this post… “The Happiest Place on Earth”, perhaps. But something about that slogan makes me feel uneasy. I have to say thank goodness the ride known as “It’s a Small World After All” was closed for construction. That ride is trippy! Don’t know if I could have done that one all over again… lol!

It was pretty awe inspiring just how much detail in everything there is. First of all it’s really clean. I mean like really clean. People that worked there were friendly. Everything just ran really well. The amount of organisation that must go into creating and maintaining something like that is, in itself, quite remarkable. And to top it all off, every night they had fireworks that far surpass the New Year’s Fireworks we get here!!! Every night! Certainly alot of fun to be had. We went with extended family, and it’s definitely a lot more enjoyable in a large group Makes all that waiting around doable…

There were some beautiful mosaics. I have no idea who made any of them so this post will just be a bit of a visual feast. Plenty more in my Disney Mosaics Flickr set… There are some hardcore families who seem to go a lot. I don’t know if that’s me, in fact I know it’s not!!! By the third day (of all of us looking out for 6 young kids) I was holding L’s hand and suddenly looked around, panicked, blood drained from my face and I screamed out “Where’s L!!!?”. I knew it was time to leave.

Such a perfect use of mirror!!! This mosaic quite literally sparkled…

The floor entrance to Naples Pizza, in Downtown Disney.

Detail shot of the Sunflower Fountain at the entrance of Disneyland.

Gorgeous hand made tiles it seems… This mountainous mural flanked both sides of the entrance to Disney’s CA Adventure Park. It depicted everything that CA is famous for… Really a fantastic mural!

The mosaic on the floor to Aladdin’s theatre in Disneyland. Didn’t go in to see the performance but this mosaic certainly caught my eye…

Mosaic Pointes

Thought I’d post the finished ballet shoe… It’s now on display at South Bay Dance Center in San Jose, CA.

Materials were stained glass, vitreous glass, mirror, millefiori, Van Gogh glass, diamante thread, faux rhinestones and a Swarovski crystal. The base was a pre-loved ballet shoe.

I named it Kit, for the owner. Hope it’s happy there. I’m sure it is!

Artist Watch: Wendy Tanner

Meet Wendy Tanner (flickr ID the same). I was attracted to Wendy immediately for three reasons: she has cool mosaics, she’s Australian and she travels… alot! Her travels have taken her to parts of the World that I long to see… Afghanistan being one that comes to mind. What I also love is that she photographs mosaic everywhere she goes. Kinda like me I s’pose… She also just has the passion and feels the need to record it all. For someone like myself, it’s very exciting!!! You must go check out her photos. Incredibly interesting…

Wendy’s creative career began with stained glass, but the dilemma of all those off-cuts of glass led her into mosaics. (Like all good mosaicists …. she never throws ANYTHING away!!) Her first mosaic course was with Christine Stewart, an acclaimed artist who lives locally in Wendy’s area of Northern NSW, Australia. A phenomenally beautiful part of the country I might add…

Overseas travel opened her eyes to mosaics using so many other kinds of materials. She saw the magnificent mosaics on St Marks Basilica in Venice and was also lucky enough to stumble upon the Orsoni Factory. She was thoroughly enchanted by Gaudi’s mosaics in Barcelona and the pebble mosaics in the Alhambra in Granada.

In November 2004, Wendy attended the International Association of Contemporary Mosaics biennial conference in Melbourne …and was inspired by so many wonderful mosaic artists from all over the world. Since then she has attended several other workshops with Australian glass and mosaic artists.

Wendy works with many different materials – and especially likes to use recycled or found objects. Her preference lies in making functional objects like tables and mirrors, but she is also exploring decorative and artistic mosaics, and 3D sculptural forms.

Wendy has taught several mosaic classes through the local Adult Education Centre, and has also taught several workshops with school children and teachers at three local schools. They created large scale murals, which brighten up the school grounds considerably. She loves the fact that anyone can make mosaics – no matter their age or ability.

Wendy reveals “My workshop is a total disaster. Since doing a course making a 3D mosaic mirror with Sandy Robertson of Brisbane, I can’t stop collecting crockery etc… My latest experiments are using broken Polish blown glass, which my neighbours import. (They import it whole, of course, but there are breakages along the way…oh…what a pity!!). I am firing little pieces in my newly acquired second hand kiln – and love it!! I love the internet too – the way so many mosaic artists share their art and knowledge through blogs and groups, and flickr. If I wanted to, I could spend all my time on my computer and never get any time to do my mosaics!!”

You can find Wendy’s online space here and more of her mosaics on her Flickr site. Her work has, more recently, been selected for the new mosaic magazine, Mosaic Art Now and is currently on exhibition at the Nexus Gallery.

Here are some pics of the artiste in question ( couldn’t choose just one cos I LOVE all of them!!!). Look at that school mural and all of her travels!!!

Wendy in Barcelona’s Parc Guell, a place that, like Wendy says, is “about as close as a mosaic artist can get to heaven.” No kidding!!!

Mosaic Mural - My 1st Group Project

One of the main reasons for me heading over to the US was to participate in the mural intensive workshop offered at the Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland, CA. It was FUN!!! It’s all I can say about it really. The workshop took place over a week and there were seven of us - 2 of us came from OS (me being from Australia and another from Canada), 2 others from interstate, 1 from Southern CA and then 2 locally. So we were a diverse mix, not only of location but also in mosaic background. Laurel True facilitated the entire project, right down to designing the mural in advance. Our first day there the mural map was up on the wall, colour coded and all! Seeing it up there did not give me an idea of the work involved until we actually started setting tile. I had an idea of how murals were done, theoretically speaking, but given the opportunity to actually DO it and also be given all of Laurel’s tips along the way was a true gift (pardon the pun, Laurel). It was also incredibly enjoyable working with other artists. Talk about no pressure! We all got stuck into it immediately, setting tile by the second day.

The mural was made from high fire ceramic and mirror. I’d worked with high fire before and it is work getting it cut the way you like. Most of the tile was just broken tile, but alot had to be carved too. I think I’m a helluva lot better at cutting high fire now I even had the torn blisters to prove it… I feel all hardcore, lol!

I really enjoyed watching others work too: how they set their tile, cut the tile etc… It’s all very interesting to me since I’ve always worked alone, and am self taught. I’m amazed really that the finished mural looks as seamless as it does considering the scope of people who worked on it and offered assistance here and there. You wouldn’t know really that there were so many people involved. All the sections just fit together. What makes a project like this such a success I think. I guess that’s the upside to using predominantly broken tile too. I would have liked to have seen all of our work before hand. It would have been really interesting to see how, I’m sure, we all differ and yet are able to come together to work on a single project.

It turns out that two of the participants I “knew” - yet more evidence that the international mosaic community is soooo small ( I mean that in the sense that all the mosaic related forums have alot of the same members, it’s great!) . Pam Goode was a flickr friend that I can now call a real friend… she’s not imaginary anymore either! (Got to meet alot of my efriends this time around, that’s another post…) I love Pam’s work, and she’s as gorgeous as what she creates. Also there was Jill Montgomery whose work I’d seen on one of the Yahoo forums. By the second day I’d put two and two together… Her work is also amazing! Definitely check out their websites! Suzanne was a mosaic beginner, though clearly an established artist. Karla was loads of fun and had only ever worked with smalti. Carol, as I understand, was the IMA-Ho in the class. I so would be too if I lived down the road from them… Renata, the other Commonwealth Cohabitant, was also an established mosaic artist. We’d often look at each other wondrously when everyone started talking inches, feet or fahrenheit… lol! I think I have the inches and feet down pat, basically, but farhenheit I just simply can’t get an understanding for. It really means very little to me. Renata had it right: she came for a month and just fit in a bunch of different classes.

The background on the project was fairly straightforward. For this class Laurel donates the murals to local small businesses and non-profits. This time she chose a coffee shop a couple blocks away. I guess it was a cafe that has changed hands a number of times in the time that Laurel has been in this particular neighbourhood. So in the design process she decided immediately that she didn’t want it to be so specific… The business is called Kefa Coffee. I understand that Kefa is a province in southwest Ethiopia. The owners are Ethiopian and specialise in Ethiopian coffee, but their menu is not Ethiopian food (which I will say is delish). We all chowed down the BLTs there, serious yum fest!!!! So design inspiration came about from Ethiopia and coffee basically!!!

Anyway, it was well worth it. I realised just how much making a mural alone is not possible… Well it is as far as setting the tile (though I’d be setting tile for a really loooong freakin’ time!!!), but actually installing it would be physically impossible and a nightmare. I have a couple murals lined up and this was just the jolt I needed to knock me out of lala land and get with the reality of managing a large scale project on my own. I’m certainly going to change my original plan, I think…

Laurel is a great instructor and a wonderful, fun person. Very animated and all the techy talk was so inspiring (talk to your tile and tell it what you want (at the frustration of not getting the tile cut the way we wanted!!!), BOMP!!!! etc…) LMAO! She’s a classic She also talked a little about her work and plans over in Ghana. Sooo interesting and it’s really refreshing to hear people give back I think. What I’d give to participate in one of her projects over there…

We also got to meet some well known mosaic artists, so the whole week was very inspired: Lillian Sizemore, Karen Thompson and Sherri Warner Hunter was there teaching her concrete form class. I almost did that class instead of this one. Looked veeery fun but I have to say I’m really glad that I did this one. Certainly where I’m going to venture into, and am able to as far as my current studio space. Watching the snowy mess coming out of Sherri’s class made me realise that there was no way I could do this just yet given the available space I own…

*sigh*… wouldn’t it be lovely to travel the world doing workshop after workshop?! I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the week. I’m not a day napper, but when we finished on the Sunday I went home and promptly fell asleep. Overall just a great experience. The opportunity to participate in a large scale, group project and mosaic all day, everyday for an entire week is a memory I’ll hold close to my heart!

My section…

Pam’s section: I just LOVE that hibiscus! Pam’s technique is just amazing. She puts such thought into everything involved (cutting, placement etc…). She’s truly amazing!

The other section I made with Laurel. I cut out most of the circles… ouch! I loved watching Laurel work. She’s fast and her cutting and placement is just so perfect… gotta do the precision tile setting class!!!

Me and Pam on the install day

Kefa - Coffee from Ethiopia to Jingletown 2008

Mural detail

Mural detail

Mural detail

All done!!! It’s amazing. We’re all so proud and I think we all kicked butt!
From left, Renata, Pam, Carol, Laurel, Karla, Jill, Suzanne and me.

To view more photos of the project, check out my Flickr album.

Here is the actual lowdown on the mural:

Kefa- Coffee from Ethiopia to Jingletown 2008
Ceramic tile, glass and mirror
Kefa Coffeehouse, Oakland, CA
4’ x 10’

Mosaic mural by True Mosaics Studio and students of Mosaic Mural Making Intensive at Institute of Mosaic Art. Design and facilitation by Laurel True. Production and installation by Kim Grant, Pam Goode, Jill Montgomery , Renata Kolarova, Karla Silva-Ruiz, Susannne Takehara, Laurel True and Carol Waldren

Additional production assistance by Deborah Block, Debbie Callen, Kara Graves, Delaine Hackney, Celeste Howell, Rachel Rodi and Lillian Sizemore. Handmade ceramic tile accents by Saundra Warren.

I went shopping

So I returned from my trip OS a few days back and have managed to feel somewhat human again after coming back from being on holiday. A really wonderful holiday! A holiday from also being a mother, where I got to spend time just being me. The rude shock of having to run a household on my own and be a mother again made me sick… quite literally. I was in bed with a flu over the weekend… Illness is, I’m sure, Mother Nature’s gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudge that we need to look after ourselves, and that wellness is something not to be taken for granted! Well it’s usually a reminder for me to slow down, take stock and look at what my priorities are.

Kids back to school today. It was also a cold, wintery day. Though I enjoy all 4 seasons the winter here is a tad too long and too cold. I do like it for it’s coziness though. It seems to bring out the homeyness in me and I find myself wanting to cook gourmet meals, cozy up to a fire (that I don’t have) and read a book.

I managed to finally unpack all my little bits and pieces of mosaic related shopping I did whilst in the US. And only one breakage, so I’m happy. Most of the products I buy in the US are things I either can’t get here or are 3 times the expense if I can. So I always stock up whenever I go over… I will whinge and complain about the price of everything in this country! I’d say on average everything costs around 3 times more than in the US. Even for things like yarn, where the wool comes from Australia, is cheaper in the US. It is beyond me why we have such high prices. Perhaps it is because “they” know that we will spend the money when we have no other option. Funny because everyone in the US was complaining about the high petrol prices ($4/gallon in CA). We’ve been paying the equivalent of around $6/gallon for at least a year… and that’s just the tip of that iceberg.

OK, I’ll stop complaining now.

So this is some new additions to my stash: Van Gogh glass, mirror tile, grout glitter, some new mini-tools, funky coloured grout, glitter tile, glue, millefiori… I don’t like shopping, generally speaking, but mosaic related shopping from the convenience of the internet is the best! It is pure therapy!!!

Sex Park on Cheju Island, Korea

Now let this be a warning to those of you who are easily offended by the human anatomy and/or sex! If you are and you have NO sense of humour, stop reading this post, don’t scroll down to look at the pictures and don’t comment about how offended you are. You’ve been warned I’m sure I’ll get all kinds of hits from people plugging things into their search engine and getting here, lol! Not quite what you’re expecting either?!

On the island off the Korean peninsular known as Cheju Island there is a park whose theme is sex. It is, in my opinion, utterly fascinating that there can be an entire park dedicated to this topic without it devolving completely into pornography. I had friends of a friend (really!) who went and took some great photos, but what caught my eye was the large, yes you got it, mosaiced penis!!! Too funny. The park is filled with all kinds of sculpture depicting mostly erect penises of some form or another. It must be said, without having been there myself it is a male-centric take on what sex is and is about. From the pics it seems to me more about the man and leaving it at that… I didn’t see any pics of the female genitals standing high and proud! Perhaps to do with the fact that even now, the female role in Korea is as the subordinate? Or maybe just simply because the park was created by men? One can only surmise… It is however all done in humour…

Is that hilarious or what!?!!!

Pebble mosaic and then more mosaic in the fountain area…

Dome in the background looks to be mosaiced!

Stairway to…?

Ballet Pointes and Sir Elton WIPs

So I have a couple projects on the go right now. Sir Elton is coming along faster than I originally thought he would, so that is great! I’m almost done with his tail, then it will be filling in his body and flying to his new owners…

Decided the other day to try and finish off the pointes I got last year… before I leave to go OS next week!!! I thought they’d go fairly quickly since they are relatively small pointes, but they are super fiddly!!! I got them mostly ready last year and filled them with that expandable foam just the other day. That stuff is hilarious!!! Check it out…

Seriously expands like a mofo!!! LOL!!! Anyway, nothing a knife can’t fix What is really daft is the fact that the company don’t sell the attachments for the spray foam separately. So unless you have acetone laying around the house (no I don’t!!!) it renders the little attachment completely useless. What a waste! Must ring the company to suggest selling these, and suggest sending me a box for such a great suggestion…

Anyway, after a day’s work this is as far as I got. Quite fiddly as I’m using very small pieces, but also the angles are all screwy and from a design perspective it’s alot more complex laying the tile than I expected it to be. I’m trying to not leave huge gaps (especially where the tess meet at an angle). Hopefully I get it right. Lots to add still… this is only the beginning. I have diamante thread that will go around the top… so far happy with it. It’s been a challenge… and I certainly have needed it.