Anne-Marie Battis Mosaic Studio

It feels like I’ve been going through a period of inactivity, or at least a lack of mosaic production, lately. However, that is not true any longer. Not only is my coffee table in the beginning stages of getting a mosaic top, but I’ve also been working on a new glass-on-glass piece which I love so far.

The last time I did this type of design was in the Ravenna workshop, though that was created using different materials -- mostly smalti glass imbedded into fresh cement. One day I’ll try this method again, especially if white cement falls in my lap! This is a small piece, maybe eight inches square…

I’m feeling like I want to do a series in this style as it somehow suits me – no drawing or tracing is necessary, but the design provides plenty of drama.

Khan Academy is a fantastic online education site with a library of video lectures on a wide range of topics, including hundreds just on art history! It is free and available at any time. I’m working my way through the art history lectures, and came across this one, Byzantine Art: Justinian and His Attendants, on the famous mosaic in the San Vitale basilica in Ravenna. It is just under ten minutes long and worth the time for anyone interested in mosaics or art history in general.

Another creative outlet I’m engaged in is making jewelry. In the last year I’ve made a lot of what I call “friendship” necklaces, simple beaded necklaces that sit just below the neck. My motivation in making these was to make a dent in supplies collected over the years as well as to create the type of necklace that I want to wear every day (and do!)

Thanks to a chance meeting, I’ve decided to turn my jewelry-creation efforts into a fundraising project.

I recently met a woman who devotes a lot of time and energy to pet rescue, as an advocate and as a foster “mom” for several cats. She recommended an organization–East Tennessee Bloodhound Rescue--that rescues, shelters and offers adoption for bloodhounds. Many of these dogs will never leave the shelter, and the staff are strapped for funds to keep them all fed, not to mention paying all the other expenses that come up. They are appealing through their Facebook page for donations as low as 25 cents.

So…I’ve posted a few necklaces on my “Shop” page, and all proceeds will be donated to this organization to help care for these dogs.I'll keep offering them until they run out.

The other night I attended my first ever mosaic-oriented Special Event that was NOT a class. Rather, it was a film screening -- the premiere in fact, of a documentary of the life and art of Lilian Broca (who was present at the event). I had never heard of her before my friend told me about the event, but am very glad I know about her now, as she has jumped into first place in the My Favorite Artist category.

Lilian is originally Romanian, and moved to Canada as a girl after World War II. She was always artistic, and then studied art seriously at university. Apparently she took a course in mosaics at that time, but didn’t pursue it further until 2002. The film presented examples of much of her work over the years, much of it focused on women’s bodies – they are truly beautiful drawings and paintings, very expressive and vibrant as well as sensuous.

Here are a few of my favorites:

In the early 2000s, Lilian decided to create a series based on the biblical character Queen Esther. In the film it was explained that she came to realize these should be created in mosaic, using the Byzantine style.  The Byzantine style is very iconic, which makes sense given the mosaics created during that period were meant to signify religious events, in a simplified and obvious way that would make clear to all what was depicted in the bible.

Lilian created seven mosaics in the Queen Esther series. These three are my favorites from the series.

Among the locations included in the film was Ravenna, Italy, where I spent a week in 2005 taking a class from the Luciana Notturni school – which was featured in this film! There was Luciana herself greeting Lilian, and a small demonstration of a mosaic being created in the ancient method which involved inserting the tesserae (glass pieces) into the soft lime – just as I learned to do there (and have not done since). Ravenna is of course known for its numerous mosaics including several of the most famous Byzantine mosaics in the world.

In the film, Lilian explained that one needs ten different shades of the same color in order to effectively produce the desired result, for example when forming a face. She further explained that the mosaics in churches are meant to be seen from a distance.  In the days of the Byzantines, there were not as many colors available, and the artists would strategically place blue and yellow glass where they wanted green. However, her mosaics are meant to be viewed close up – so this kind of trickery would not work.

One thing mystifies me about Lilian. She uses very little color in her paintings and drawings. But her mosaics are an absolute feast of color. I find the contrast quite striking. She made the right decision in creating her Queen Esther series in mosaic.

In an earlier post I described the screen printing class I participated in a year ago or so, and shared a few photos of the results.  This photo was taken at the class.

The organization that sponsored the class, Spins & Needles, is now hosting a screen printing show at a local art gallery, and I’ll have a few pieces there! Once I heard about the show I arranged for them to make me some new screens (of my other mosaics, of course)…

This print is entitled Kettle Elegance, and is printed on glass. I’m not sure that is allowed in screen printing, but I did it, and it seemed to come out well.

… And this is from the piece I made in Italy, based on an ancient classical mosaic. I love this image and want it tattooed on my lower back.Unfortunately, my husband has told me that if I do that, we will be heading to divorce court.  So I’ve decided to postpone this until he sees reason.

I’ve named the piece Synchronized Mammals. This is not printed on glass, but on fabric.

I’ll also be showing the first piece I made in the class,which is now called Reptile at Rest, also printed on fabric.

These will be for sale at the gallery for only $50 each. What a great opportunity to acquire a (beautifully framed, by the way...) artwork from an (as yet) unknown mosaic-screen printing artist!

Getting the frame ready FIRST is the best method in stained-glass mosaic creation. It is actually a lot harder to frame it after the fact. (Unless you have soldering skills and can build your own frame around the piece, which I do not.)

I start with a regular picture frame, usually acquired at the dollar store or from someone who has donated it to me (since my fans know I’m always on the lookout for frames)....

The best type of frame has a groove into which the glass fits, like these. Here are basic instructions for getting your frame ready:

Take all the cardboard and backing off the frame and dispose of it -- you won’t be needing it. Remove and clean the glass and the frame too, while you’re at it. If the frame needs painting, now is the time to do that. Remove any brads or staples that were holding the backing material in place (not really necessary but makes it neater).

This is also the time to make sure your frame will accept a hanging device later. If you think it might be tricky, now is the time to test, i.e. make sure it will accept an eye-screw. I have found frames with very hard wood that do not easily take a screw or even a nail, and metal frames are also tricky. If you can, you may want to plan on soldering a metal hoop onto such a frame. Alternatively, the mosaic could be displayed on an easel.

Now, you’ll need to use a strong glue like Weldbond, running a bead around the inside groove. Place the glass into the groove and press down. Allow it to dry. You now have a secure surface on which to make your mosaic, and there will be no need for further fussing with framing!

As for the size: it is risky to use too large a frame, say over 12” x 12”. The mosaic will become heavy as you add those little tesserae, and the frame must be able to support the weight. I tend to make small mosaics, so it is not really an issue. For something larger, use a wood panel instead of glass. This is a completely different type of mosaic, but...  I made the mistake of putting a good-sized mosaic onto a lightly-framed glass backing, and witnessed it spontaneously discombobulate, literally throwing itself off the shelf where it burst into a million pieces. This was a sad sight, though funny too. Here is what the mosaic looked like before (Unfortunately, I don’t have an “after”!)

People ask where I get my glass and tiles, assuming they are hard to find. I used to buy  online, mostly vitreous glass tiles and some of the more specialized types of glass.  But since I started using stained glass as my main material, I haven’t had to go online or spend much money. It turns out stained glass is very easy to get, and I have several years’ supply on hand at this point!

The local stained glass shop sells scrap glass for $5 a pound, and I have picked up quite a bit there.  I’m guessing this is standard at these shops, since they always have scrap pieces left over from their classes, too awkwardly sized for them to use, but perfect for cutting into little mosaic-sized pieces!

Then I saw an ad on Kijiji from a stained glass artist selling her scrap glass for $10/box.  I ended up with three boxes from her, and still have tons left. In addition, the seller assumed she would not be able to sell any of her clear glass scraps, but I was pretty happy to take them, since I use a lot of clear textured glass in my pieces

Finally, my sister-in-law came for a visit, and brought me another 10-15 pounds of leftover stained glass scraps. She gave up stained glass art and was happy to discover I could use it. Her current art involves burning decorative designs onto salad bowls -- very intricate and lovely work. Here’s one of my favorites:

Here is a new mosaic from me, a silouette of a cute pig in multi-coloured stained glass. It was an experiment in working with much smaller pieces -- I cut each piece to be less than half the size I normally use, so even though it is a small mosaic, it took me a little longer than usual.

The little pig has gone to live with my friend Katy, where I trust it is brightening her days!

Often when people find out I make mosaics as a sideline they want to know how I got into it in the first place. This is a reasonable question since I don’t have an arts background, nor an art degree -- and certainly not an arts-related day job.

I’ve always been interested in crafts and making things but never been very good at anything. Sewing, knitting, crocheting -- all tried and dismissed (sewing machines terrify me!). Drawing, painting and the like are appealing, but too normal I guess. Doesn’t everyone else draw and paint? I did some collage which was fairly satisfactory, and wouldn’t mind getting into that again. Once I made a collage that was displayed at an “arts in the workplace” show. It involved a lot of maps. I took up rug-hooking, which is also easy, fun and unique. I still have my supplies, and hope to get back to this in my dotage. Oh, and I do make beaded necklaces, sort of on-the-side of my mosaic sideline. They are quick and come out really cute... more to come on these in a future post.

Somehow I started noticing mosaics, and thinking I would like to do that. But I didn’t -- not yet... Finally, a young artist-teacher started a Saturday morning mosaic workshop at a local art gallery. The instructor had figured out -- on her own -- how to make mosaics when she got sick of her Ikea dining table and decided it could really use a mosaic on top. Luckily, she had her students start with something much smaller, a 4 x 4 inch tile.  Here is my first mosaic created in that workshop, which I still love for its color and confetti-like texture:

I don’t remember what else I made in that workshop. I only attended for a few weeks before realizing I could work more easily and comfortably at home (at the workshop we sat in a circle on the wooden floor in the middle of the gallery, getting blasted by winter air every time someone opened the door). Still, I have fond memories of those mornings and continue to work with other artists in the studio once a week (in addition to my home dining table studio!)

I’m grateful to that enterprising young woman -- Ariel Finelt Shoemaker -- who got me started in this wonderful and satisfying art form.

A few months ago I took an afternoon screen printing workshop through Spins & Needles, an Ottawa arts organization dedicated to promoting craft. My goal was to learn a new skill that could be used in furthering my mosaic art. The two crafts don’t seem to have anything to do with each other, but in fact I think the mosaic image makes an excellent stencil for screen printing.

Those of us taking the workshop were asked to bring transparencies of the images we wanted to work with. Using Photoshop, I made high-contrast images of several of my mosaics and printed them on transparencies. (Luckily, these once-standard items are still hanging around in the office supply closet.  I’ve been told these now sell for $50 a box!)

I ended up choosing my lizard mosaic to work with.  Here’s how the mosaic looks:

The process for making a screen for printing (also known as silk screening) is rather laborious. In the workshop we started from scratch, where we actually constructed our screens using a framing kit, screen material (not silk, but some kind of special high-tech fabric), and tools like a hammer and heavy-duty staples. I killed my hands with the manual staple gun. Even though it is good to know how to make the screen, I recently discovered that a local art supply shop sells them pre-made, which will be my choice next time.

I won’t go into the rest of the process, which eventually results in the chosen image being photographically embedded onto the screen where it is ready to be printed onto paper, fabric, etc. But I will show you some of my results, which I believe are quite pleasing.

These are printed on an old heavy cotton curtain. I also printed on T-shirts, and I intend to print more on stretched canvas. I’ll eventually put a few into my Etsy shop.

I’m hoping to get several more screens ready with some of my other mosaic images. This will mean going through those complicated steps to prepare the screens, Still, I would recommend to any artist to learn another craft or method that is seemingly unrelated to your chosen art. I’m wondering what to try next...