Making Art from Pieces

"I am learning everyday to allow

the space between where I am and where

I want to be

to inspire me and not terrify me."

Traci Ellis Ross

Every morning of our mosaic week at Wildacres, our instructor Pam Brewer put a quote on the board for us to think about during our day's journey.  She knew we had a steep learning curve. But all 10 of us rose to the challenge trying very hard to put aside the terrifying aspect of what we had to do and the time we had before us and, instead, enjoy the act of creating and getting to know each other.

Our mission was to create a mosaic totem...something yard worthy and meaningful (or not) and every single piece had to be constructed.  Totems are an interesting subject in and of themselves and I could have spent hours researching the symbols and their subsequent meanings.  But I decided to choose three B's of gardens: birds, butterflies and bees (and maybe a blossom or two and a garden goddess?)
The above photo is all of us cutting our shapes from insulation board and carving out channels for the pvc pipe to fit through.

These "shapes" got glued together and wrapped in sheetrock mesh tape before coated in fiberous surface bonding mix.  This photo shows my pieces that are double coated and ready to dry and two others where you can see the insulation board.

After everything dried it was time to nip and glue using quickrete to hold the pieces onto the form.

It helped to lay out a design on paper before attempting to assemble.  We needed to have additional shards available and remember that we had a 2" edge to cover along the sides.  The collection of material was wonderful: we brought and shared tiles, broken pottery, intentionally made pottery, thrift store plates and all manner of lost and found objects.  We hoarded, nipped, and shared, repeat, hoard, nip and share!

The base of this "object d' arte" was a work in progress as we had to build on it every day.  With concrete we made a form around pvc pipe which would hold a length of rebar on which everything got stacked.

Did we have fun?!?

one of Pam Brewer's pieces designed for a totem

to be in a pet memorial garden

Then it was on to grouting, cleaning and packing up.  What a lot we accomplished in just a week.  We even had time to learn a bit about mosaic and to visit Pam's wonderful studio for more inspiration.

One of my favorite pieces was this cardinal I made, it happens to be a blue bird on the other side and I think it is full of personality!

Here is my totem in the garden...my sweet husband spent quite a bit of muscle installing it.  Each side is different and colorful and reminds me of a great week of creative pursuit with new friends.  I also love that each symbol holds a very significant meaning for me (this side shows the dragon fly on back of the bee) and many of the shards I used represent different people who gave them to me.  

I'm hoping my fellow nippers will send me photos of their work installed so I can share them with you.  Every single piece was different and there was a lot of creativity buzzing around our room.  I loved making beautiful art from discarded parts and pieces.  Constructing a beautiful whole from broken parts should always be our goal.

IN MANY PIECES,
Cindy

A Bench of a Project

More Yard Art for the Avant Garden

It all started when a friend, Cathy Adams, mailed me a photo of her sitting on a lovely blue (concrete) couch covered in mosaic. 

 A street scene of yard art to make me swoon; my brain went from "I want" to "I need" to "I will make" in about 60 seconds or less.  Here is, as they say, the rest of the story:

According to my husband this dandy bench was on the way to the garbage.

I had to make the surface "solid" so covered the wood with some left over plaster cloth.

Realizing the plaster cloth would not hold up long term, I interviewed Home Depot guys and after a variety of answers (including odd looks) I began to cover the bench with concrete wire mesh.

Next came the concrete surfacing (which I failed to make as smooth and level as I should have: note to self)

At this stage the enormity of the amount of real estate struck me and I sent a note to friends and family asking for donations of their broken plates, tiles, mementos or anything ceramic to incorporate into the project.  I also returned to Home Depot and Lowe's to interview "experts" on the appropriate mortar to use.  I selected a porcelain tile mortar, polymer enriched by Mapei, because it sounded like I could grout and glue all in one step: big mistake!  The experts were not artists and this artist should not try to cut corners.  All's well but next time (am I crazy?) I will glue and grout, the hard way.

How can I not find photos of work-in-progress??

finally done - now I need to grow the grass back!

Yes, it took ages to complete.  The hardest part was getting the body into various positions to work with a slippery mess.  Unlike a painting or a small piece, I could not simply flip the bench over and get it to rest on my knee.  I had to limit the time my poor back could scrunch over or my arms could reach forward  But as Funky (my husbands description) as it turned out, I love recognizing all the wonderful pieces it contains: hey, anything with a unicorn, a Santa, some tiles from Mexico, a demolished 50's bathroom and a Virgin Mary in it has to have character, no?

detail

Come on by before the mosquitoes come out and we will enjoy a cool drink on a one-of-a-kind piece of art.

ART FULLY YOURS,

Cindy

Creative Yard Art

Sometimes the funnest things are activities you never really set out to do!  Such was the case when I spontaneously agreed to teach a workshop in making glass flowers from plates.  I had been doing them for local shops and had so many questions that we decided to share the fun via a class.

me playing teacher,

looks like an infomercial, no?

 

My sweet friend Cheri offered her home, information was circulated and voila! we had ourselves a date.  Ten brave students gathered, some confessing that creative sports were not in their wheelhouse.  I guaranteed fun for all.  I get a little enthusiastic in my thrift shop endeavors and forget that not everyone is as familiar with the jewels to be found as I am.  Nevermind, I loaded up on enough to supplement anything that anyone brought in and handed out little bags of adhesive and "fixings." We even set up a "trade" area for extra materials.

 

Marsha and Yvonne listening intently

 

The wonderful thing about this kind of craft is that we can play with all kinds of color combos and shape mixes before ever committing to putting them together.  So play we did!  Lots of ideas were shared, opinions offered and encouragement given.  Whew, once the adhesive was in place it was time to let the art "set" and take a break for lunch.

 

lunch with the ladies is always educational

 

The results were wonderful!  Not a failed project among them...I truely got some renewed inspiration from watching the way these ladies worked...Lots of lucky folks will be getting original yard art for Christmas this year.  I know I'm not finished yet!!

Take a peek here at just some of the lovely pieces created:







So imagine these peeking out of your greenery in the garden...

Hope you can join us next time!