Artist Sue Williams made a memorial mosaic for her recently-departed companion Dusty, and I wanted to share it with you for several reasons.
The first reason is that Sue made the mosaic in sections on concrete pavers, which allowed her to make the mosaic in manageable pieces indoors.
This mosaic is also worthy of note because it demonstrates that an effective design for a memorial doesn’t require a life-like rendering of the pet’s face.
Lastly, the mosaic is well executed and there is a similar level of complexity in the different elements instead of being unbalanced in some way.
Bite-Sized Increments
All too often, the inspiration for a large project comes suddenly in a wave and leads the novice artist to neglect practical concerns, and so she “bites off more than she can chew” or is practical to chew, and the work of the project outlasts the inspiration that sparked it.
For example, one method for doing a memorial such as this would be to use one large stone or slab of cement and then spend days outdoors trying to mosaic directly on that surface, with weather not cooperating most of the time.
Remember that art should be as much about the experience as the results. Also, the results are usually compromised when the artist doesn’t take into account practical concerns.
Making Mosaic Enjoyable
If anyone still believes that art requires suffering to be any good, check out Victor Kobayashi’s mosaic lanai (patio).
Victor was able to make these pavers one at a time, probably while sitting out in his beautiful lanai, instead of rushing to make one large design followed by a team of construction workers installing it in a loud and dusty process.
Think about how enjoyable that was and how it couldn’t help but improve the results. Since Victor wasn’t married to one design, the project could be artistically fresh all the way to the end. Each paver could be its own design.
Lastly, each paver could be made when Victor felt inspiration and motivation instead of being driven by a contractor’s schedule.
Integrated Design
Sue’s memorial mosaic for Dusty was one large design, although not overwhelmingly large, and so her project is a good example of how the paver technique can be used for one large image.
Materials and Methods
This mosaic was made on 8 concrete pavers, 400 x 200 mm each, for a total mosaic size of 800 x 800 mm (35.5 x 35.5 inches).
The tile used was out unglazed porcelain, but the Trump administration has banned imports of Chinese porcelain, and so I recommend using glass tile instead.
Glass tile is impervious to moisture and freeze damage. It is also cheaper, easier to cut, and available in a wider range of colors.
Another advantage of glass tile is that the ease of cutting allows the artist to make more detailed images.
Grout Color
Sue was considering a medium gray grout for the background areas of the mosaic, but there would have been a risk of the grout not contrasting sufficiently with the light-colored tiles. Sue used black grout instead, which is my default color choice.
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