"The Surround"

Just an update to as how my piece is going:

It's been two weeks since I've last posted and I have made a lot of progress. I have decided to hand make each tile for this piece verses cutting slabs and just wire cutting the tiles. I think it is important for me during this process to completely dive in to the piece as a whole and have a complete hand in all the variables. My count is 1,002 tiles as of today. I plan to play with glazes and fire the first thousand today, during our class. If all goes well this time next week I should have another thousand. In terms of where I see this piece going I'm thinking very organic, no iconic images will be painted onto the tiles, and a sense of being overwhelmed is what I want the viewer to experience. I am still unsure as to the color scheme that I am going with. I am still teetering on the vast white plains or rich saturated middle eastern colors. I did have one dream that resembled the piece, which consisted of this repetitive hills rolling over and over again. This feeling of monotonous motion constantly fluctuating.

Example of what pre-glazed/fired tiles look like.

This painterly quality in this work-might be something I may lean towards.

"What is It?"

Advanced Studio Artist Blog

Various images of mosaic tiles as seen on the famous long windy wall in Parc Guell, Barcelona.

"Untilted" Ali Mirsky's 15" diameter Mosaic

For this first piece in the semester I am going to be working on a mosaic. There are still many unset variables to this piece but I can start by describing my two paths of colors that I will be working with. I have an idea of doing a very white template with hints of light blue and light green and possibly some gold added throughout the piece. There will not be any set edges resembling a shape, ie: square, rectangle, circle. More organic and outside elements may be brought in. I am thinking alternative processes to the tiles after they have been glazed and outside materials, wood, yarn, paper. All components that will allow me to layer and compile tiny images into a grand image. I am somewhat lost in the sense of a clear set type of work that I am practicing now, but other inspirations such as Native American artwork have become prevelent in my sketchings since I had just travelled out west this past summer.

Kirby Sattler's Native American

The photographs documented such beautiful portraits of these indians. The lines in their faces from working all day, and the intricate head pieces and weapontry they hand-made was breath-taking. I may also take some of the natural deep colors of their works and go the opposite from the white spectrum for my mosaic and use yellows, deep reds, browns, and gold for highlights. These set of colors has always come up somewhere in my work and I like that about my style. For the semester as a whole, I am not too sure where I am going with my work, I know I want to start with this mosaic and see where I end up next.

http://www.delaguarda.com/frontend/main2.html

http://www.alimirskymosaics.com/

http://kirbysattler.sattlerartprint.com/

http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/370.html

http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/370.html

http://www.delaguarda.com/frontend/main2.html