I turn corrugated boxes inside out to reveal the colors and textures hidden within.

The early Corrugated Mosaic picture frames that I did were rather primitive. Over the past decade I've refined the Corrugated Mosaic to the point that I don't know where to go next....
I can mosaic almost any flat or slightly curved surface so I started looking for new horizons. When searching for ideas and inspiration, one of my favorite sources is my local library and other artists.

Leanne at Ruby Dog's Art House in Vancouver introduced me to this wonderful book:
New Directions in Altered Books by Gabe Cyr. And there are so many more books filled with ideas....

Paper

I've always had an attachment to paper - it's so much fun to fold, cut and glue, plus sources for recycled papers are so numerous!. Old books are wonderful and I've been cutting them up for years, but this opens up a whole new arena! Publishers seem to publish more books than people can actually read and reference books get out of date so fast in our changing world.

This was a remaindered book - I was drawn to the rich red color of the end papers!
For my next altered book project, I used a utility knife and mosaics instead of the paper shredder....

You can see the new altered book: PEACE BY PIECE, with corrugated and marble mosaics in the new Altered Book Section by clicking here.

Marble, Granite, Tile, Glass, Et Cetera.....

In June of 2009, we drove down to Portland, OR for the mosaic exhibition CUTTING EDGES and it was a magical experience! This was the largest mosaic exhibition in North America, ever! Not only did I see some fantastic contemporary mosaics, but met many of the artists and we talked about mosaics day and night! I also had the opportunity to actually chop marble with a hammer and hardie under the supervision of an international expert, Sophie Drouin. It was more fun than slicing corrugated! It's not hard but technique will require more practice on my part. Driving home we stopped at Powell's Books in Portland to get a couple of mosaic books. Mosaic Techniques & Traditions by Sonia King is an excellent resource and I refer to it often.

Cutting Edges: Contemporary Mosaic Art
To see a slide show of this amazing exhibition on Flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/65738626@N00/sets/72157618756890137/
www.flickr.com/photos/65738626@N00/sets/72157614489046430/

In the past I've attended several SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) conferences and exhibitions where I've talked with other mosaic artists who work with traditional materials: marble, tile, glass, smalti, and found objects. But when I return to my studio, I revert to what I know best: paper and corrugated.

One of my primary commitments is to working with recycled materials. I'm finding it very easy to find unwanted marble, granite and tile. With all the new countertops being installed, there are dumpsters of it sitting in alleys just waiting to be picked through and I love diverting these materials from the local landfills. I also found a beautiful slab of green slate and ceramic tiles, at our local ReStore.

Red granite and pink marble rescued from one of my favorite dumpsters.

The marble was from a demolition project and needed to be cleaned.

Luci is using a hammer and hardie to chop the marble into smaller pieces, which will be cut to size in the studio using nippers or wheeled cutters. I also discovered that granite is much harder than marble!

My first mosaic using marble and granite, 6.5"x9.5". This was just a practice piece to get me started but, what fun! Tile and glass will be used in future traditional, contemporary mosaics.