Making sense out of chaos

Have you ever thought about being an artist? Did you know that you don't need to be able to draw or paint to create amazing art? It's true. And Cappi Phillips learnt this lesson early.

When Phillips was in the fifth or sixth grade, even she thought you had to be able to draw or paint to be an artist. She felt frustrated because she wasn't very good at either.

But she had a ball when her art teacher had the class cut up construction paper and use the pieces to make a picture called a mosaic.

Artistic whole

Phillips doesn't remember what she made but what she remembers is the fun she had arranging the bits of paper into something whole and artistic.

That's what mosaics are all about: making a complete object or picture out of lots of smaller pieces of material.
Today the mosaics Phillips makes at her home studio in Bloomington, Indiana, US, are more complex and sophisticated. But then, so are the tools she uses.

Still, many of her works embody a whimsical and often wacky humour that appeals to children — and grown-ups still young at heart.

With her husband, Bud, who helps out in the studio, Phillips sells handcrafted mosaic animals at art–and-craft shows around the Midwest.

Ancient artistry

Making mosaics is an art form dating back thousands of years. They are made by fitting pieces of various materials together to create a pattern or a picture.

Just about any material can be used in mosaic but, historically, mosaic artists have been known to use pebbles, shells and small pieces of marble, glass or tile.

Phillips uses some of these and a variety of modern objects — including toys — to make mosaic animals.

Some of her most popular pieces are turtles. Have you ever noticed that the bony plates of a turtle's shell make a kind of mosaic?

Phillips's mosaic animals are purely decorative but she also makes functional mosaic pieces, such as tables, plant stands, clocks, vases, birdbaths and even mailboxes.

This art form has a multicultural origin. It is an important element in Greek, Roman, Christian, Islamic, Latin, Russian and Near Eastern cultures.

One of the earliest known examples of a mosaic is about 4,500 years old.

The Royal Standard of Ur (on display in London's British Museum) was found in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

The artwork is made from shells, red limestone and lapis lazuli, which are glued on to a wooden box. The piece depicts a battle scene on one side and a peaceful banquet scene on the other.

The Greeks and the Romans created entire walls, flooring and pavements with marble-and-stone mosaics — beautiful, functional and durable works of art.

In fact, some mosaics from the Roman period were so tough they survived a giant volcanic eruption.

In AD79, Mt Vesuvius erupted and rained ashes on the Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The ash hid — and preserved — these villages for centuries and when they were rediscovered, excavators found stunning, colourful mosaics in the ruins.

The Alexander Mosaic from Pompeii is a mural showing the ancient Greek ruler Alexander the Great in battle.

Archaeologists found glass paste and shell mosaics applied to columns, niches, entranceways and fountains in the Pompeii ruins.

It was during the Christian-Byzantine era that this art form flourished. Artists used a new material, glass “smalti'' (molten and cooled glass) to produce more colourful and reflective mosaics. Many great churches and mosques were richly adorned with such works of art.

Renaissance decline

However, the mosaic art form declined in importance during the Italian Renaissance, as paintings and other art forms came to be more highly prized.

This continued through the 1700s but mosaic art staged a comeback in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.

Today, mosaics continue to be used extensively in the architecture of homes and other buildings around the world.
Artists over the past century have used the mosaic as an art form in its own right.

They have experimented with mosaic sculptures and free-standing mosaics, using all kinds of materials, including scrap metal.

Phillips combines her own inventive spirit with a good dose of playfulness, which is evident in the name of her studio, Moe's Ache, and in the one-of-a-kind mosaics she creates.

TIPS

Patch talk

Can you think of a mosaic design you would like to make? If you're interested in experimenting with mosaics, here are a few tips: