Anne-Marie Battis Mosaic Studio

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.