Beauty from Broken Things
In his book, Life of the Beloved, (Hodder & Stoughton 1992), Henri Nouwen tells a story about a scene from a Leonard Bernstein musical.
In this musical ('Mass', written in memory of JFK) one of the characters is a priest, richly dressed in splendid liturgical robes. During the scene, the priest is being carried, lifted high by his people. "He towers high above the adoring crowd, carrying in his hands a glass chalice. Suddenly the human pyramid collapses and the priest comes tumbling down. His vestments are ripped off and his glass chalice falls to the ground and is shattered. As he walks slowly through the debris of his former glory - barefoot, wearing only blue jeans and a t-shirt - children's voices are heard singing, "Laude, laude, laude" - "Praise, praise, praise". Suddenly, the priest notices the broken chalice. He looks at it for a long time and then, haltingly, he says, "I never realized that broken glass could shine so brightly".
To me, mosaics are a reflection of life. Broken and fragmented things can, with a lot of patience, love and creativity, be put together to make something very beautiful and totally unique. Broken things can shine brightly.
My love of pictures made of pieces goes back to childhood where I would draw outlines of characters on graph paper then build up the image by colouring in alternate squares of the grid. When I lived in Italy between the ages of 5 and 7, my cousin, Rocco, introduced me to making images with rice - sticking grains of rice next to each other (painstakingly) then colouring in the final piece.
More recently, I returned to the art of making pictures from pieces. Self taught, I made my first piece in 2001. I immediately loved this art form. You can see my first effort, the coffee table, in the mosaic gallery. In 2003, I did my second piece. It was an experiment in learning! It is a beautiful if technically rather imperfect panel in the garden. Click on Broken Whole to see it.
In 2004, I took three months off to pursue those important things that I feared I would put off for the rest of my life if I wasn't careful. One of those things was mosaicing (another was writing) and my three month sabbatical was just what I needed. Persephone's Peacock was completed - all 6 foot of him! Encouraged by the feedback of friends and the spirit of inclusivity and support of Mosaic Artists Online (see links) I took part in a mosaic group one afternoon as week at a local college.2005 was the year of my first commission, my first exhibition and my first award - see the news section to read more! At the end of 2008, I gave up my work as a Learning & Development Manager to concentrate on mosaics and my children and so far I am on my second commission of the year (as of February 09!) so feel like I have made the right decision. I love the totally absorbing process of making mosaics. If this makes sense to anybody, I don't just see mosaics, I feel them.
