"Emerge" - September, 2006
I began this piece at an advanced workshop with Sonia King and Emma Biggs in Dallas in August, 2006. I was a bit worried about taking an "Advanced" workshop- but should not have- learned lots- it was great! They are 2 of the best teachers. The piece has taken me about 50 hours to complete. I spent a lot of time thinking about this piece- almost a year in fact! The final design looks a lot different than what I planned. The concept of the slate "river" is there, and most of the material is the same- but I received such wonderful input about design from the workshop. I got a bit of insight about reflectivity and how to combine materials. The copper wiring looked too "new" - so I passed it through the burner on my gas stove- gave it a great patina! I am thinking about turning this piece on it's side, because I think the top is a bit heavy. One problem though- I "signed" it - with a tile "B" in the lower right hand corner- (I think it is cut off in this photo) - should have taken Sonia's advice and left space in all corners until I decided which way the piece would turned. I actually did not think that would be a problem until I was finished! The materials used in the piece are copper nuggets, slate, copper smalti, pebbles, marble, van Gogh tiles, safety glass and NZ paua shell.

This is my first mosaic. I began it in a two day workshop with Sonia King in Dallas, TX. It took me almost a year to complete it (mainly a time issue). But I learned so much in that class and from this piece. It is a table top inspired by a floor in ancient Corinth. It is of a rooster, pecking the ground. My lack of drawing ability is showing on this one, but overall I like it- even thought it may look more like an abstract rooster!

This cross was made for my friend Karen's birthday( it was a "special" birthday, we're not posting numbers!). It is made primarily of broken pieces of fused glass given to me by my friend, Doug, who is a Fused/ Stained glass artist. Nice friend to have, huh? I love it when one of his pieces breaks! (sorry, Doug). This piece also includes millefiori, smalti, and glass gems. It is grouted using a blue (I think it was cobalt) grout.

The piece on the right is titled "Fleur du Coeur". It represents the love I have for my state and the pain that the recent hurricanes brought with them. I plan to do another piece similar to this one, to improve the design, a bit more abstract, fragmented . This piece was the first time I used Italian smalti for an entire project and I also used thinset as an adhesive for the first time. Smalti glass is such a wonderful material to use, in so many ways. It has such a wonderful reflective quality. Comments and discussion of this and other pieces are welcome. Click on the small image to enlarge it for a better view.