Mosaics…yer wha?
Picture the scene. A drinks party perhaps. A casual conversation on the train. A longer than expected wait at the school gate. My repertoire of opening gambits is exhausted and I anticipate, with a sense of impending dread, the arrival of the inevitable question:
‘So what do you do?’
Slight pause. ‘I make mosaics.’
‘Ah’. Polite smile, eyes darting around frantically thinking of something to say.
And that’s it.
Conversation stopper
Mosaics are one big conversation stopper. I see images of garden pots covered in broken plates floating in the eyes of my interlocutor. Sometimes, in desperation, I talk about using stone and marble. I have a line about having a passion for Roman mosaics. But it doesn’t help much.
I could try saying that I’m an artist but I position myself in the craft camp. Moreover, I wouldn’t want anyone to think even briefly that I’m claiming to be some sort of hot shot. I’m comfortable with saying I make mosaics, it’s just that people don’t know what they are in a modern context.
If I said that I knit, then the conversation would flow smoothly. Everyone has a personal connection with knitting. It’s the same with other crafts – wood work, ceramics, quilting, basket making, glass blowing, weaving, blacksmithing. We all know what they are and how they’re used. But as a general rule people don’t get mosaics.
ways to use mosaics
But why? Mosaics have been with us for thousands of years and everyone is familiar with the concept of them. It’s odd that their practical use in a modern context isn’t widely understood.
So for the sake of the next person I meet on the Heathrow Express, here is a list of six ways to use mosaics. I might print it out and hang a laminated flyer around my neck. That would certainly get the conversation flowing.
Practical uses
1. FLOORS. The obvious one. No need for explanation here. Whatever house improvements you have in mind, a mosaic could be just the thing. If you are doing up your kitchen, adding on an extension, giving the porch a facelift or thinking of a new look for the hall.
You could have a mosaic insert for a particular place in the floor or mosaic the whole thing.
2. KITCHEN AND BATHROOM SPLASHBACKS. Where ever there is tiling, there could be mosaics. Most mosaics are made of ceramic, glass, or stone. They are durable and waterproof so they work perfectly in kitchens and bathrooms. Here’s my own take on the Unswept Floor mosaic installed as a kitchen splash back in Normandy:
3. SIGNS. The Romans used mosaics for signs too. Think of the famous Cave mosaic from Pompeii. They make great house signs or signs for businesses or shops, either embedded into the outside of a building or an entrance way. Alternatively they often hang as free standing objects the way you’d hang a picture on the wall. Here’s a house number with the street name that I made on mesh for a house in Athens and which has been embedded into the garden wall.
other uses for mosaics
4. GARDEN DECORATION, paving stones, urns, pots, swimming pools etc. This is where pots covered in broken plates come in. I don’t have anything against them, its just that there is more to mosaics than that.
5. PRESENTS. Mosaics make brilliant presents for weddings, anniversaries and significant birthdays. They are unique, handmade and almost indestructible. Moreover, they are specially designed to suit the occasion which means that they make perfect presents. Naturally.
Here’s a wedding mosaic I made recently:
6. GENERAL DECORATION Indoors or outdoors. Mirrors, boxes, trivets, you name it, mosaics cover it. Mosaics are not always embedded as permanent features. Here’s a little mosaic head made on a concrete base. It happens to live in Brisbane, Australia.