All We Want For Christmas: Part 1

How lovely of Christie's to plan an auction of the fabulous Gluck Collection -- including some amazing mosaics like the base of this Dragonfly lamp -- just in time for Christmas; December 8th. We've been soooo good this year . . .

Learn more at Artdaily.org http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=34420

Enjoy -- Nancie

What Should "Inspired By" Look Like? Irit Levy

Before we get to the Topic of the Day, we'd like to mention something that totally took us by surprise this morning. When we went to start a "new post", Blogger informed us it was to be our 100th. Imagine that. 100 posts. We take that as a kind of milestone. It also reminds to thank all of you who have contributed information, photos, and comments to this space since June. Grazie.

Back to today's burning question: What should "Inspired By" look like?

We think "Big Skies" (below) by Irit Levy is a fabulous example. (and a great excuse to give some space here to her "Big" series which we adore)

Irit created this mosaic in response to an invitation by Julie Stedman of Opus Gallery to participate in an exhibition called "In the Spirit of Chagall" in Exeter, UK. (more on the exhibit at the end of this post.)

Why do we think this is such a great example of "inspired by"? Because when we saw this mosaic we knew in a nanosecond that it was Irit Levy -- and only Irit Levy -- riffing off the work of Marc Chagall -- and only Marc Chagall. We didn't need a title or explanation to tell us what was happening with this work. It was wonderfully obvious. Most important, there was not a whiff of artistic plagiarism anywhere.

In her blog, Irit does a terrific job of chronicling her process of design decisions for the mosaic. She has graciously given us permission to give you the Cliff Notes version here.

Irit took inspiration for Big Skies from two Chagall mosaics, Four Seasons and The Zodiak and one painting, Le Marchand de bestiaux.

Then, Irit looked to her own body of work. She decided to use this opportunity to continue her "Big" series and went back to an acrylic from 1998, Flying for further inspiration.

Let's have another look at Big Skies again.

We think this mosaic is an "original" and an homage that Chagall would be delighted with. It captures the spirit of both artists beautifully. Brava, Irit!

For more information on Irit, her work, and links to her to blogs (both of which we highly recommend) click here

The "In the Spirit of Chagall" exhibit runs from November 16 - December 27th at the Opus Gallery, 120 Fore Street, Exeter, Devon UK. www.opusmosaic.co.uk

Enjoy -- Nancie

Question: How many beetles does it take to mosaic the ceiling of a palace?

The following is a complete and utter steal from www.kitchenandresidentialdesign.com. Our friend Paul Anater finds the darndest things (and, on occasion, says them, too). This Nov. 15th post screams mosaic - or is it a mosaic that makes one scream?

Without further adieu --

Ceiling images from Angelos.be

A couple of weeks ago, I started reading a new (for me) design blog called Doorknob. Like just about everything new and interesting I find any more, I found @doorknobdesign on Twitter. Doorknob is run out of New York and it's the project of a man named Kurt Kohlstedt. He finds some great things, give him a peruse the next time you're looking for some inspiration.

Anyhow, he was tweeting about a fantastic ceiling he'd found the other day and I followed his link back to the story. I was floored by it. Bah dum bum. Yes, I was floored by it. Here are the photos he ran.

Pretty cool, huh? That ceiling is an installation in the Royal Palace in Brussels and it's the project of an artist named Jan Fabre.

It gets better. Here's a close up shot of the ceiling and you can really see how textured it is.

Even closer. Guess what it's made from.

That ceiling is a mosaic, for lack of a better term, made from the shells of 1.3 million jewel beetles. Jewel beetles are members of the family Buprestidae, and the particular Buprestid here is Sternocera aequisignata from Thailand.

Thai bugs

S.aequisignata is a food source in Thailand and Fabre set up a cottage industry in Bangkok to gather enough beetle shells to make his ceiling. Beetle shells that would have been discarded get upcycled here in every sense of the word. Along the way, some people who's lives aren't real fun got to make some money from what would have been their garbage. That's what I call a win win and the result is some downright arresting art.

So what do you think? Did Fabre usher in a new era in the decorative arts? Will we see beetle shell ceilings in the US any time soon? I can't wait to find out. Thanks Doorknob!

And thank you, Paul!

Enjoy -- Nancie

Someone You Should Know: Lily Yeh

"We all have that innate light within us and my role is to ignite that pilot light so that we shine together and light up the horizon." Lily Yeh

We could do three, four, five -- a hundred blog posts on Ms Yeh and still not do justice to all that she is and all that she has accomplished. From North Philadelphia to China, Ms. Yeh has used art to transform and build communities.

Ms. Yeh's belief that "there is a light in everyone and through creativity we create and remake our world" has been an inspiration to many -- including mosaic artist Laurel True. Her work in Rwanda building a genocide memorial in the village of Rugerero was chronicled in Terry Tempest Williams' best selling book, "Finding Beauty in a Broken World."


Recently, Lily told the story of her 20 year journey at the 2009 Bioneers Conference. Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, click the link below and prepare to be -- well -- transformed.

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.193.swf?vid=2370643&vrsl=c.4.239

To learn more about Lily and her work . . . .

Barefoot Artists, Inc. is a nonprofit arts organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. that uses the power of art to transform impoverished communities. Founded in 2003 by Lily Yeh, Barefoot Artists aims to train and empower local residents, organize communities, and take action for a more compassionate, just and sustainable (better) future.

"Warrior Angel: The Work of Lily Yeh" by Bill Moskin and Jill Jackson, a paper on Lily's methodology of using art to transform and build community, is available for download. Click here.

The remarkable portrait above is part of "Americans Who Tell The Truth" a non-partisan series of portraits by Brooksville (Maine) artist Rob Shetterly. His portraits of past and current Americans form a travelling exhibit(s) that is hosted by schools, universities, churches, and various community groups around the country.

Enjoy -- Nancie

Mosaics are used to illustrate "What is Beauty in Art"

British art critic and painter Matthew Collings recently hosted a documentary entitled "What is Beauty in Art?" for the BBC Two.

To our delight, we found that he had used mosaics to serve as illustrations for two of the ten key concepts he has identified as essential to beauty in art: Unity and Pattern.

While we can't link you to any part of the program itself, we can send you to a slide show on the BBC website -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8357625.stm -- that features all ten concepts and works.

Collings is no stranger to mosaics. He is the husband of Emma Biggs and her collaborator in the remarkable "Five Sisters" project at York Minster.

Here is a video about the "Five Sisters" project we posted first on June 23rd.



Enjoy -- Nancie

"Art is the best way to communicate faith." The Latest Work from Father Rupnik and Centro Aletti

We've mentioned Father Rupknik and the work of the Centro Aletti in this blog several times. Here is a video of him discussing his latest work in San Giovanni Rotundo in southern Italy. More stunning work.

(For our Facebook Friends http://www.centroaletti.com/ing/persone/centro.htm)




Previous posts on Father Rupnik and Studio Aletti:

http://mosaicartnow.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-is-new-art-this-is-ancient-art.html

http://mosaicartnow.blogspot.com/2009/07/grace-in-gold-liturgical-mosaics-of.html

Enjoy -- Nancie

Big News from MAN Central!

Exhibition in Print Entries -- Beyond Our Dreams

By the deadline yesterday, we had received entries over 250 entries from 26 countries for the Exhibition. It is no exaggeration to say that this far exceeds our wildest dreams (or business projections) for the project. It's a good thing that we agreed to pay Dr. Shields a respectable professional fee to be our curator. Wethinks he will be earning every penny. And we are very, very glad that we are not going to be the ones having to make the selections.

Advertisers Already Reserving Space in MAN 2010 -- Beyond Our Projections

We are also excited about the number of mosaic businesses and artists who have already reserved advertising space in MAN 2010. We are actually a wee bit ahead of our projections (honest!) and there aren't many publications that can say that these days.

The deadline for ad space reservations is December 11, 2009, so if you a mosaic artist, instructor or business, perhaps these "factoids" will help you make a decision:

• MAN the magazine, reaches the largest audience for any mosaic-related publication or organization in the world -- over 10,000 for last year's edition alone

• MAN the website, blog, and Facebook page reach thousand of additional monthly readers

• Our 2010 edition will be 50% bigger with more stories, new departments and the "Exhibition in Print."

• We've kept our ad rates low and added a new section to the Marketplace -- Learning Opportunities -- perfect for individual educators as well as schools.

• We support our advertisers throughout the year on our website and in our blog.

Our business model is to offer the most for every advertiser's dollar. We are not a philanthropy, but we do believe that the more opportunity we create for mosaic artists and related businesses, the more the art form -- and we along with it -- will thrive.

Promote your yourself and/or your business and support the work we are doing by placing an advertisement in the next edition of Mosaic Art Now. Become a member of the Family of MAN.

Click here to view our Media Kit and reserve your advertisement. http://www.mosaicartnow.com/advertise.aspx

Thank you! Bill and Nancie