My journey as a mosaic artist

Since my childhood, growing in Italy, I used to love dedicating my spare time to drawings, painting ceramics, working with clay and watercolour. I am self-taught. I never went to art school. Although it was my wish, the parental pressure towards studying for ‘a proper job’ was strong and consequently art has always been something that I carried on doing in my own time, learning from books and by attending adult classes.

The art of mosaic is something I started focusing on after I enrolled on a mosaic course in my local adult education college. I grew up surrounded by mosaics; even the small square in my village is paved with a pebble mosaic. Furthermore, at the initial stage of my artistic career, the way I approached mosaic was very much in tune with the way I tend to approach every aspect of life: logically, methodologically and analytically. Therefore, as a beginner student, I would spend hours designing what I wanted, colour the design perfectly, transferring it to the base and then be sure to have the material which corresponded exactly to the original colours. I would not allow myself to deviate from my original plan.

As I grew in confidence, my approach started to change. I started producing more abstract work, trying to be less bound to the world as it is and more towards a world which in my eyes is made of continuous curved lines which can produce intricate images. Although the process remained the same, e.g., design, choice of colour, etc, the original idea and approach to the design started to change. I would draw an object and then surround it with lines and see what images they might create.

I get a lot of inspiration by challenging myself with new ideas and projects. The more ambitious they are, the more motivation I have to produce interesting new work.

The process of focusing on creating concrete structures has taken me into the current direction. I have started working more and more with pieces where concrete and mosaic work together to create abstract landscapes and quirky and interesting shapes, all inspired by the colours of the Mediterranean. My work is now the expression of my creativity and spontaneity, of my desire to be challenged but also of my inner disposition to be methodical, logical and focused. I am working on 2m tall totem structure as a nature focal point where the wide landscape can be framed and seen through holes in a variety of different directions. Decorative mosaic and concrete will complement each other to create a sculpture which will help the viewer to frame a piece of landscape and really focus her attention to see the details rather than the whole. You will be able to see its gradual creation by following me on Instagram and Facebook.

If you would like to discuss a design for a bespoke mosaic, contact me.