Tag Archives: hand made tiles

Hidden – an Exhibition in a Graveyard

As a commemoration of Rookwood Cemetery’s 150th Anniversary, a collaborative art project was hosted on the site. ‘Hidden 2017 ‘ included 40 installations in a Rookwood Cemetery Sculpture Walk from the 26th August – 24th September.

the Storyteller
the Storyteller

My giant skull mosaic ‘the Storyteller’ filled the space between adjacent head stones drawing on Day of the Dead iconography.

Close up of Storyteller
Close up of Storyteller

The calavera is a common motif in popular culture. Immediately accessible and less bleak than a skull, it tells the unique story of a life once led. In this work I use individual and painstakingly created ceramic tiles as symbols of the eternal cycle of life; butterflies, the sun, leaves and sprouting plants. Combined with found objects; little pebbles and broken pieces of of treasured crockery. The flotsam and jetsam of our ordinary lives creates inexplicable patterns. The eye sockets contain miniature scenes like memories. A Momento Mori glittering light and colour that conversely reminds us to live our lives now.

Mixed Media/Mosaics

As  a collector (not a hoarder!) other peoples bits of work frequently find their way into my mosaics and sculptures. Through my teaching work I inherit many cast offs, gifts and accidental treasures which trigger the imagination and demand to be given life. Sometimes I hang onto a particular thing for ages waiting for that moment to happen. My  art making in this sense is essentially collaborative though ultimately produced in my own intensely solitary time and space. Mosaics are my bower bird like distillation of the flotsam and jetsam of these years of accruing.

the Storyteller - mixed media mosaic
the Storyteller – mixed media mosaic
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail
Mosaic detail

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the Storyteller - eye socket detail
the Storyteller – eye socket detail
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Mosaic, Picasette and other Guilty Pleasures

My ceramic mosaics are lyrical, figurative explorations which allow me to incorporate glass and other mediums along with found and up-cycled objects. This work combines the versatility inherent in the mosaic technique with the variability of surfaces from tabletops, to pots, to large styrofoam sculpted skulls, to picture and mirror frames, to walls and floors. No more crying over breaking a favorite bowl or tea cup!

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