Last week I attended the Society of American Mosaic Artist Conference in Mesa, AZ. It was a well organized event, very informative and inspirational. I met lots of new folks and took 2 wonderful workshops. My first workshop was on design with Emma Biggs. She is so enthusiastic about mosaics- her workshops are a delight to attend and I learned so much. I brought my "Eclipse" piece to the workshop for critic- I was pleased that it was very well received. Just getting a "Well done" from Emma made it worth the effort of lugging it all that way. My other workshop was with Matteo Randi in the use of the hammer and hardie, the tools that have been used since Roman times to cut marble and glass terrerae. And I am happy to report that all of my fingers are still in tact! I bought a hammer and hardie at the workshop and can not wait to really begin to get proficient at using it. There were other superb speakers at the conference and I have heard nothing but good comments about other people's experience.
And now it it time to get crackin' on a new project!

Here is my latest work- I call it "Eclipse" - as in eclipse of the pyrite sun. This was also my first attempt at gradation of color. I love all of the materials used in this piece- smalti, gold, copper, dichroic glass, and pyrite sun. I'm taking it to my design class w/ Emma Biggs at the SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artist) - I'll be interested to hear the critique. I'll let you know. I'm really excited about going to my first SAMA conference- it will be in Mesa, AZ. I'll give a full report when I return.

Here is my "Fish Out of Water" currently hanging in the Alexandria Museum of Art, with the La. Crafts Guild Exhibit. It is inspired by a series of fish that Alexander

Calder did. Actually, I did this fish before I began doing mosaics. There are a lot of fun things hanging in this fish - pieces of glass and bottles I found in the alley next to my house, a little doll's arm I found, my first glass beads that I made, fused glass.

I plan to make more of these fish to try and sell - I have lots of ideas- I need to work on some of the methods I used to make it- it takes forever to drill holes in all of those glass pieces! Stay tuned!

Here is my first mirror. I completed it in the "Desert Jewel" style. It is going to the Alexandria Museum of Art to sell in the gift shop.
My mosaic art was just accepted for the Louisiana Crafts Guild. Speaking of the Crafts Guild, the currently have an exhibit at the museum and I have a piece in it- it is my fish- I'll post it next.