Mosaic Mirror class begins August 1.

6-10x10 mirrors
Materials in above mirrors include: 
Colorfusion Crystal glass, 
Van Gogh glass, Bisazza Opus Romano glass tiles, 
Iridescent tiles, Millefiori, recycled glass tiles

Still time to register for my 
Mosaic Mirror class at 
Bower Center. 
It begins Thursday, August 1, 
6-8:30pm, and continues 
for four consecutive 
Thursday evenings. 

Make a 10" square accessory mirror. 
Brighten up your own decor or give as a gift.






Go to Bower Center's website to register: www.bowercenter.org ... or if you are close by come into Bower Center's office Tues-Sat 11am-4pm. 
Only $95.  ($75. tuition and $20 supply fee)

The Cornerstone Gallery opens in Bower Center for the Arts

The Cornerstone Gallery 5
L-R: Bonnie Kinnaird, Sergei Troubetzkoy,
Dotti Stone, Gene and Sally Carter

Second Friday, July 10, 2013 marked the opening of The Cornerstone Gallery in Bower Center for the Arts. 

This project started with the vacancy of the space adjoining my Bower Center studio - seemed the perfect place to be able 
to showcase work without 
the clutter of the studio environment.
It was small so not overwhelming to get cleaned up. 

Sally Carter, who has a pottery studio on the other side of me asked if I'd be interested in sharing. Her husband, who recently got back into pottery joined in and we invited two more artists working in mosaics - a team was formed!

It took several weeks to get the place prepped, painted, some repair work done, the floor tiled and display panels and pedestals made. Bonnie was a life-saver helping with the step-up on the back wall,tiling the floor and preparing display panels from hollow core doors.

Feedback from visitors has been positive and we are all encourged and excited to be a part of this venture. And ... Bower center benefits since a % from sales goes to programming at the Center. A win-win for all!

When you come to visit, while at Bower Center be sure to check out the studios of Janie Mantooth, just before the hallway to Cornerstone, Karen Carter, directly across from Cornerstone and Nancy Laurent on the third floor.

Look to the East entries in winter exhibit at Bower Center

In the Looking Glass

It had been on my mind to create a mosaic of a design I fabricated in stained glass many years ago. It was one of my favorite commissions during the days when I operated Great Falls Stained Glass in Northern VA. Bower Center's winter Look to the East exhibit was the perfect time to stop thinking about it and get to work.

This recently completed mosaic will be included in the opening exhibit in the new Cornerstone Gallery at Bower Center for the Arts. Don't miss the opening on Second Friday, July 12, 5-8PM.

Azalea Bonsai

Creating a mosaic bonsai was another idea that had entered my mind and it, too, met the Look to the East theme. Orsoni smalti seemed to be the perfect glass to use. To keep the background simple, but have some texture, sand over thinset was used. Azalea Bonsai is a relatively small work at 7" square. This is currently exhibited at TECAC, The Electric Company Artists' Co-op through July. Don' forget to stop by on Second Friday, July 12, 5-8PM ... 207 East Depot St, Bedford VA.

Remnant: Winter White

Remnant: Winter White

Creating a series hadn't occurred to me until about three or four years ago. Even as I was working on this sculptural mosaic this thought hadn't gelled until I was well into the project. The idea was to create something that had a softness about it while using the hard materials associated with mosaics. During the process I realized it would be interesting to continue beyond this first piece that resembled a scrap of fabric and create more shapes that would represent remnants of material that came from old clothing or other items, i.e. a curtain, bedspread, anything that could reveal a story of days gone by. 

The question as to how this was created has come up often. Hardware cloth (a wire fencing like material) was used to form the shape to be mosaiced. This step took a while ... cutting, bending, cutting some more, leaving the shape to sit for a while and going back to continue the shaping process until it felt right. The wire form was secured to Hardi backerboard that had been covered with a skimcoat of thinset and painted, in this case, grey. The next step was to put a layer of plaster gauze cloth on the wire shape in order to have a base. Next  a layer of white thinset was applied to create a hard substrate to adhere the mosaic. Shades of white Orsoni smalti were used for most of the form with some white marble and silvery gold smalti interspersed here and there. A second layer of Hardi board (about 15" square), wired for hanging,  was adhered to the back of the first layer (12" square). This second resulted because I decided not to use a floater frame, my preferred style of framing for mosaics. The mosaic looked better without the smooth edge of a frame and since the first layer of Hardi-board had not been wired for hanging and couldn't be with the form to be mosaiced already attached, it seemed the best solution was a second layer of backerboard. Though it added weight, the 1 1/2" wider surround for the main backerboard provided a nice look ... apparently it was supposed to be that way all along! 

This is the first in a series that is on going - several are already completed. More works from the Remnant series will be posted in the future.

Jewel of the Hancock

Happy 4th to all!

Jewel of the Hancock
17" x 20"

This is the closest I have to a mosaic with red, white and blue! 

There is a story behind it.  I first came to the central southwest area of Virginia in 2007 and often went into Roanoke since it was an easy shot from Wirtz where I planted myself before settling in Bedford. The designs on this building grabbed my attentions and were a fascination and I  remember hoping that they would be saved. At that time the brick surrounding the decorative panels between the windows and covering the rest of the building looked like rough cut stone. 

The Hancock Building at Campbell Ave and 2nd St in downtown Roanoke was undergoing major renovation. The exterior has been stripped of big panels that had covered up a beautiful facade created to unify the front of buildings purchased by N W Pugh Department Store in 1929. The block originally consisted of several structures, including Hancock Dry Goods built in 1898. Grand Piano and Furniture purchased the building in 1965 and completely covered the windows and the terra cotta mosaics. In 2007 the front of the building was restored to it's former beauty and the interior of The Hancock Building was designed for residential living.

The Hancock Building after renovations

I love the art deco style  and though I rarely use another's design to mosaic, I decided I'd like to fabricate this particular one in unglazed porcelain and glass. It was a time consuming laborious project, but I love having the panel in my studio.

If anyone who reads this post knows who the original artist was I'd love to learn more about who it was and other work the person created. In addition to these larger panels there are several smaller design elements on the building. They were all created so long ago perhaps that information was lost or never properly attributed ... hopefully not.

Harlequin

Harlequin

I found an image of a harlequin figure among my many Mardi Gras photographs and decided this was a perfect subject for a mosaic. It brought back memories of Mardi Gras visits and offered the challenge of intricate work on the figure. This mosaic is 18" x 36" and incorporates unglazed porcelain and glass tiles.

Harlequin in foyer

Roman Border Mosaic

The journey into mosaics started while I lived in Northern Virginia. In 2004 an Introduction to Mosaics class taught by Gene Sterud lured me into the exploration of this ancient and exciting medium. Gene makes reproductions

Roman Border Design

of many old mosaics and I  found a Roman border design to be the perfect pattern for fabricating my first mosaic using unglazed porcelain. One mosaic down and I was hooked!