Mosaic Art…

My first experience of mosaic art was as a teenager growing up in the small seaside village of Kilmuckridge, Co. Wexford. I painted small beach pebbles in different colours, arranged and glued them to plywood and got my dad to frame it. At that time I don’t even think I knew what mosaic was. What I do remember is that I was totally absorbed in the process.

Many years later I bought a book on mosaics and having read the introduction was totally sold on this wonderful and varied medium. According to my sister, I once proclaimed that “I had found what I wanted to do for the rest of my life”. A little dramatic, but hey… it sums it up nicely.

As mosaic supplies were not plentiful where I lived, I began making my own tiles. Then I started to use small range of unglazed ceramic tiles which I found in the local tile shop. Eventually, I discovered on-line shopping and so my obsession and passion were sustained.

… And Me

I am self-taught using the world of social media, YouTube, mosaic forums, on-line courses etc to my advantage. I have also attended many workshops here in Ireland and overseas.

I love the range, texture, and colours of the materials which are now available. I also like to incorporate “found objects” into art work which makes it unique, personal and eye catching. On a day to day basis I look at objects differently, colour, texture and the reflectiveness of the materials. I constantly find myself asking the question: “how would this work in a mosaic?” At this stage I have quite a supply of different materials, more than enough to allow me to mosaic until I am way past 100.

Facilitating workshops for children and adults allows me to pass on everything I know and love about this wonderful medium. It is, without doubt, one of my favourite parts of being a mosaicist.