Category: Art Review
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Fauvist Mosaic Art
Artist Beverly Postman has a natural gift for creating visual interest with fauvist colors and variable andamento and mixed materials. The images she emailed me were low resolution because that was all she had, and so it reminded me yet again of the importance of photographing our artwork and creating a digital portfolio. More on…
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Digital Grout Color Studies
Artist Steve Katzman’s first mosaic is a classic decorative design: sparse floral motifs with sufficient background for showing off interesting andamento. The problem is that Steve wasn’t satisfied with the grout color he used, which was very light, almost an off-white color. Also, the grout had an overwhelming color impact because a distinct grout gap…
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Day-&-Night Table And Decorative Mosaic Design
Artist Pete Keller’s Day-&-Night Mosaic Table is an excellent example of incorporating scenic elements into decorative mosaic design. By “decorative mosaic design,” I mean a mosaic that covers a functional surface such as a table top or floor and is composed so that it is still figuratively meaningful when only a small area is visible.
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Case Study: Mildred Mosaic Portrait
Artist Mary Spadaro’s mosaic portrait Mildred is a reproduction of a mosaic she saw on Pinterest. I am reluctant to show the model image because I think the photo may be somewhat muted and blurred to enhance its verisimilitude:
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Aspen Glen Mosaic as Semi-Abstract Art
Artist Michael Hayes recently completed a mosaic based on a photo he took of an aspen glen in Colorado several years ago. I wanted to share this mosaic for several reasons and not merely because it is a strong work by someone just starting out with mosaic.
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Original Mosaic Designs by School Children
Art teacher Bailey Smith has done something truly amazing. Instead of having her seventh-grade students work on one large mosaic mural to impress parents and administrators, she allowed her students to make their own designs. This gave her students a real art experience that allowed them to be expressive instead of merely being worker bees…
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Semi-Abstract Mosaic As a Learning Exercise
Mosaic as a medium has several intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. The main weakness it has as a selling point is that it takes significantly more time than drawing or painting for an image of similar complexity. The intrinsic strengths of the mosaic medium far outweigh the time commitment. For starters, mosaic is a “gateway” medium…
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Azerbaijan Mosaic Artist
Samir İmamverdiyev is the son of the accomplished Azerbaijan mosaicist Musa İmamverdiyev, and he is currently in Iceland and looking for opportunities. I get the impression that Samir would consider opportunities anywhere in North America or the E.U., particularly in Iceland. Samir’s mosaics are impressive architectural murals. His subjects are portraits of medieval poets of…
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Building a Mosaic Portfolio
Artist Jacqueline Spohnholtz is building a mosaic portfolio to solicit commissioned work, and she is doing it in an intelligent way in my opinion. Of course the portfolio needs to be uploaded to an online platform such as the artist’s website or Instagram, and it needs to be built from catalogue-quality photographs (full spectrum white…
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White Grout Case Study
Artist Mark Eibes‘ hummingbird mosaic is figurative art made from (mostly) whole tile, and it makes a great case study for deciding if you should use white grout for your mosaic artwork. Mark wasn’t satisfied with the white grout, and so I explained how the grout of dry indoor mosaics can be stained by with…
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Mosaic Garden Art: Fun Group Projects
Artist Donna Stern recently completed a series of abstract mosaics that are exactly what I think of when someone emails asking for fun project ideas for a group day in the studio. Series of Smalls The first thing is that it is a series. More importantly, each element in the series is the same size…
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Harmonious Hues and Abstract Mosaic Art
Artist Zane Pahl’s recently completed mosaic patio table is a solid example of using harmonious hues in an abstract design. I have not written enough about this type of mosaic, especially considering its popularity and its accessibility. Zane’s mosaic is an interesting teaching example because the color scheme is about harmonious hues instead of contrasting…