So, what do playing
trombone and making mosaics have in common? (sounds like the
start of a bad joke!) Patience, practice,
technique, tools, discipline, repetitive ... repeat ... repetitive motion!
For one, both are
physically demanding. As a music
student, I spent countless hours in a small room playing, practicing, playing,
over and over whatever I was working on. Six, seven, sometimes 9 hours a day. The mosaic equivalent, cutting tile, shaping glass, splitting stone,
again and again, achieving the cut you want, the perfect curve, the smoothest
edge, it comes with practice. Practice
is what makes it become second nature. Just like playing scales, the exercise and repetition prepares you for
the hard work ahead. For making music,
for making art, creating something that speaks for itself.
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| Seventh Position, (self-portrait) ceramic, glass, dinnerware & pottery shards, 16"x9" |
Music school taught
me to be critical. Not having that
weight on my shoulders when creating art, I’ve finally found the freedom to
improvise, better than I ever could with music. This is especially true with my most recent work, using dishes, pottery,
and other discarded items.
For a time I lived
in Southeast Asia, taking advantage of every opportunity to travel in the
region. I taught music and English,
while collecting indigenous musical instruments and textiles. It’s these travels that influenced my first
mosaics.
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| Headed Home, Smalti, millefiori, stone & stained glass, 13"x8" |
Talk about culture
shock, I moved from Malaysia to New Orleans! It’s there that my long standing dream of mosaic-ing the world around me
began. I gathered everything I needed, in
secret, to make a table for my new boyfriend’s birthday. Well, needless to say, that effort sealed the
deal, as we’re still together, more than 17 years later!
Driving around the
piled-high with debris streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, I
spotted a small chair on the side of the road. My immediate thought, “Mosaic Chair!” After months of preparation, using a moisture barrier, fiberglass, and
concrete mix, it was ready for mosaic. The upholstery designs came from patterns from my Malaysian and
Indonesian batik collection. Midway through we moved to Florida. Packing up an entire mosaic studio was no
easy task! Almost a year later,
I completed the Textile
Throne. Everyone who see and sit on
it, comments on how comfortable it
looks ... and it is!
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| Textile Throne, chair with mosaic & mirrors |
As I was
transitioning from full time musician to focusing on mosaics, I accepted an
invitation from Julia Kay to join her Portrait Party (JKPP). This international online group of artists portray (in any media) portraits of each other. Little did I know how much this group would become part of my daily life and influence my artistic direction.
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| Revolutionary #34 Arturo, Pen & Watercolor |
At that point I had
only done a few small portraits, and little to no drawing. My interactions with other artists grew
quickly from a handful to hundreds from around the world. It’s been a consistent driving force and
remains a primary reference source for my portraits. What began online, has become an international community of artists, who have drawn
together, have gallery shows, and most recently published a book, Portrait Revolution:
Inspiration From Around The World For Creating Art In Multiple Mediums And
Styles, in both the UK and US. It’s a humbling experience and
great honor to be one of 15 Featured Artists in the book, among 200 artists from 55
countries.
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| Sidekick, glass, ceramic, dinnerware & pottery, 16"x20" |
As a result, my
largest ongoing series is Portraits of Contemporary Portrait Artists. Each portrait is a new challenge, which is
one of the main things that keeps me doing them. I use photos and drawings as reference, and
allow myself total freedom to improvise and make spontaneous changes as the
materials demand.
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| Kimie, Smailti, Mexican pottery, vitreous glass & dinnerware, 10"x13"x3.5" |
My first mosaic
works were done exclusively with ceramic tile, but through the years, through workshops and experimentation, I’ve learning to incorporate stained glass,
Smalti (Byzantine glass), stone, shell and most recently, dishes and crockery. All together, they enhanced my
pallet and increased the ways I can create texture, which I so love.
As a practicing
artist I spend hours in my studio, sometimes with music, but most often alone, in quiet solitude. I allow thoughts to
come and go, as I search through stacks and boxes of materials, dishes given to
me by friends, family, and neighbors. Thoughts about their histories, the people that handled them, as well as
their designs, mingle with whatever work I have going on, finding connection in unexpected places. I love the moment
when a particular shard jumps out as an indispensable anchor, or hidden message
within a portrait.
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| Time Out, hands thrown pottery, dinnerware, glass & shells, 16"x45" |
For each and every piece I lay down, a series of decisions have to be made. Beyond finding
the appropriate material, I have to decide where and how to cut it, which direction to place
it, while taking into consideration how it fits together with all the pieces around it. It can
take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes, or longer, to cut and place a single
piece. Patience and commitment. There are endless ways to make a likeness, so I rely
on my intuition to make choices, then I follow through to make them work ... when they
don't, I rip it out. Working primarily with cement adhesive, making changes after a piece
is set, takes a chisel and determination!
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| Spider Fingers, glass, ceramic & dinnerware, 12"x12" |
This is Week 44 of Artists Tell Their Stories. Thank you for reading and sharing Gila's
story today. To connect with Gila and see more of her work, please visit the following links:
story today. To connect with Gila and see more of her work, please visit the following links:
