2017 Spring Mosaic Art Fiesta

The First Mosaic Fiesta was held last March 24, 25 and 26 in Decatur, GA.

The event co-hosted by Joe Moorman and Frederic Lecut, from Mosaic Art Supply and MosaicBlues was attended by confirmed mosaicists from all over the USA.

We all met Friday night in a local restaurant.

And got started Saturday at 10:00 AM.

The goal of the event was to introduce my Opus Pixellatum technique to a group of confirmed mosaicists.


Each participant had send me a picture of their eyes or face 2 weeks ahead of the event and I had prepared a model of their eyes. They would realize an actual mosaic of those eyes during the week end.

I had also brought with me all supplies and tools necessary for the work : Grout, Glues, Tweezers, Mounted Backing boards...

The tiles were available from Mosaic Art Supply.

I had previously organized many workshops, community projects and classes so people would discover mosaics. It is a much different feeling to be working with people who have for some of them many years of experience in the trade. They are interested in the matters, and their questions are always pertinent !

Everyone had an idea about the principle of Opus Pixellatum. My goal was to get them to practice, and get a first taste of the many wonderful variations allowed by this dramatic technique. 


Everyone got to work

Daniel Baxley and Sandra Atherton at the beginning.

By laying every other tile... Which allows for a much easier, more accurate laying. 

Amy Galbavy has laid about 25 % of her tiles.

And later allows the mosaicist to unleash her creativity in many directions...

Once laid half the tiles in grayscale, you realize you already can see the portrait you have been building. So you now can fill up the remaining holes with any color you'd like to use. No matter what you do, the original pattern is already there. 

As we were building eyes portraits, I suggested to use irridescent tiles to highlight the irises of the eyes...

  

A happy Daniel Baxley and his mosaic ready to mount

By the middle of the afternoon, we were ready to glue our mosaics on their supports.

Daniel Adams, cleaning up the glue.

Everyone went back to their hotels around 6:30 pm, having spent about 7 hours on their mosaics. 

Sunday morning, we grouted our pieces.


While the grout was setting I explained how to create an Opus Pixellatum model from a picture. I answered many questions, and finally proposed to build models for those of them who would like me to do so. The offer was appreciated.

 

I am a French mosaic artist  established in Alabama.
In 2015 I created a new mosaic technique. I named  it Opus Pixellatum. When I realized this technique allowed for much more than I was expecting I decided to share it with confirmed mosaicists.

If you'd like to learn more about Opus Pixellatum, or  would like me to create a model of a custom mosaic pattern from one of your picture, please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com 

or by phone at (334) 798 1639 

You can also subscribe to my  
Mosaic Newsletter

 

Our first Spring Mosaic Fiesta is coming up...

There, we are just 4 weeks away from our Mosaic Fiesta in Beautiful Decatur, GA.

I received pictures of most participants to the seminar and am presently making the models they will use to create a mosaic of their own eyes using my Opus Pixellatum technique.

My last Opus Pixellatum piece: Timeo Danaos et dona ferrentes

I am very excited at sharing this technique for the first time. This is very important to me. When you come up with a new technique you should - at least partially - share it for free with other people so they can experiment with it and possibly make it better. I know not everybody thinks this way, but I do. 

The event is hosted by Joe Moorman at Mosaic Art Supply and we will do everything for it to be a very pleasant and fun experience for all

Learn More  :
Email Joe at : inspire@mosaicartsupply.com
Call Frederic at : (334) 798 1630

Frederic Lecut is a French mosaicist.

In 1992 he made Alabama his home.

His Art is about inspiring People.

You can contact him either 

by phone at (334) 798 1639 or email at 

frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to his

NEWSLETTER

 

Mosaic Fiesta : An Opus Pixellatum Class in Atlanta

I will be teaching this spring a 3 days class (Friday night, Saturday, Sunday morning) about my Opus Pixellatum Technique.

During this class open to 12 students only, you will create a naturalistic portrait of your own eyes. 

Course Project

Each student will create a 7 inch x 17 inch mosaic portrait of their own eyes, or the eyes of a friend, relative, etc. The portrait will be created from a photograph using my Opus Pixellatum technique.

Cost

The cost of the event is $275 per person, which includes the cost of all materials.

Tentative Date

The class will be a weekend event (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) for 12 people, and  The class is tentatively scheduled for March 24, 25, and 26th in Decatur, Georgia.  

Please email inspire@mosaicartsupply.com to reserve your slot or express interest in a later date.

The Venue

The class will be held in Decatur, Georgia, one of the most livable cities in the US. Decatur’s old courthouse square filled with fine dining and boutiques, plus a MARTA train station that provides stress-free access to the Atlanta Airport. The course will be held at the Mosaic Art Supply warehouse, which is less than 2 miles from the Decatur Square.

 

Schedule of the Event 

Two Weeks Before

Two weeks before the event, students need to email us the photograph that they will use as a model for their mosaic. Frederic will use this digital photograph to create the pattern for your mosaic and determine the colors and quantities of tiles needed.

Friday Night

Arrive and check in at your hotel. Meet and greet with Joe Moorman, Frederic Lecut, and the other students over dinner in Decatur Square.

Saturday

From 9am to 1pm, students will lay out their designs on the patterns. Following a long lunch, we will transfer the mosaics to their backers. Throughout this process, there will be discussion of how to use the Opus Pixellatum technique as a point of departure for incorporating stylistic elements beyond the pattern and other aspects of mosaic composition.

 

Sunday

Grout the mosaics. Farewell and departure.

 

Reserve Your Slot !

Spaces in this class are limited.  Please email inspire@mosaicartsupply.com to reserve your slot or express interest in a later date. Once the date is confirmed, we will be collecting non-refundable payments of $275 for the course.

Frederic Lecut is a mosaic artist based in Alabama. 

  His Art is about Inspiring People.

 

For more details about his Opus Pixellatum signature technique or if you are interested by his work, you can contact him by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

 

You can also subscribe to his NEWSLETTER

Mosaic Fiesta 2017

 

A unique creative experience !

I developed my Opus Pixellatum technique in 2015 for my Yezidi Eyes series of mosaics. As I refined it this year I came to realize the huge potential of this technique to create mesmerizing and fascinating pieces.

Many of you having enquired about this I am thinking about organizing next February in Atlanta MOSAIC FIESTA : a fun and exclusive event to share with you my experience with this new innovative technique !

The principle of Opus Pixellatum is simple : From a digital picture I create a model grid. Each cell of this grid contains a number, corresponding to one color of mosaic tiles. You glue this tile on the grid. Once all the cells of the grid are covered, your mosaic is ready to grout. It is complete.

Yezidi 37 - from picture to complete mosaic

This sounds very much like “mosaic by number”. It's not ! Opus Pixellatum allows many many beautiful and dramatic variations and I’ll teach, explain and demonstrate them to you during the event.

 

Practically, we'll take a picture of you (Or you 'll bring one you like) and I'll create a model from it. Saturday morning you will build your mosaic on the model. Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning we will glue it and grout it on its support and you will bring it home with you !

We will use recycled glass tiles only, and there will be no cutting involved.


The event, hosted in a beautiful hotel downtown Atlanta would be all inclusive. Rooms, Food, Instructions, Models, all Mosaic Supplies and Tools will be provided and the cost would be approximately of $1,250 for the 3 days.



My good friend Shelley and I are still at the organizing stage and would really appreciate your input or questions on this project.


Please Please let us know your thoughts by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639 

Thank you for your help ! 

Yours in Mosaics ...

Mosaic Fiesta 2017 - A mosaic event by Frederic Lecut, International mosaic artist and Renaissance Man.

Wiregrass Mosaic Project - Troy University

On Sunday October 10, and Thursday October 15, I led 4 free mosaic workshops at Troy University Campus in Dothan. October is a gorgeous month in Alabama, and we were working under a tent graciously installed there for the occasion by the University Staff.

Our goal with this project  is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of community mosaic projects by quilting together a great number of small individual mosaics.

Altogether, about 40 people came to enjoy the cutting and laying of tesserae on a mesh.

We had one 3 hours session on October 10, and three 2 hours sessions on October 15.

There were only 2 patterns proposed for these 2 first sessions.  A Traditional Roman geometric one : 

And a Malta / St Andrew's Cross

We actually spent 9 hours tiling and produced 56 individual brightly coloured 6 x 6" mosaics.

The individual pieces at the Library.

The next stage of the project will be the installation of these pieces on the rectangular table and benches in the park.

After that, we will have more sessions to realize the mosaics needed to cover the Round tables and benches. 

We need your help for the next stages !

If you would like to help and participate, or learn more about this Project, please contact :

• Donna Miller by email at dmiller@troy.edu or by phone at (334) 983 6556 ext 1321, or

• Frederic Lecut (me) by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639

 

I am a modern mosaic artist with a deep admiration for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Arts. You can see my own mosaics on my site at mosaicblues.

 

If you are interested by my work or would like to drop me a line please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639. 

 You can also

(and I recommend it !)

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

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Mosaic Project - TROY University

On Sunday October 10, from 2 to 5 p.m., I will lead the first FREE workshop  of our next Wiregrass Mosaics Project at the Troy University in Dothan. A second workshop will follow on Thursday October 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Our goal with this project  is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of community mosaic projects  by quilting together small individual mosaics.

In community mosaic projects, often, one big mosaic is realized by a team of individuals working together on a big mosaic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A group snail mosaic

In our case, individuals will realize their own mosaic, which will later be quilted together to realize a much bigger piece. 

An individual snail mosaic

Once we have demonstrated our technical and organizational ability, we will be in a position to launch bigger projects involving much more people in the Wiregrass Area.

In this first stage, our goal is to cover with mosaics concrete furniture installed behind the Malone Hall. 

They include :

4 round tables & 12 round benches

1 rectangular table & 2 rectangular benches

Only the tops of the tables and benches will be covered with mosaics, the rest of the furniture will be painted.

On October 10 and 15, we will hold 5 workshops of 10 to 15 people each, to realize the individual mosaics. The participants will work from printed designs.

Later in October we will set the mosaics on the furniture.

I have organized similar projects over the past 2 years with the Wiregrass Museum of Art and the Headland Chamber of commerce.

• WMA Workshop, March 2015
• Headland Spring Festival Workshops, May 2015.

In May 2015 at the Headland Spring Festival, 20 small (6 x 6”) mosaics were realized by  children between the age of 7 and 12, some of them with the help of their parents.  We only used black and white ceramic tiles.
 

At Troy participants will mostly be adults: students of the University, and volunteers from the outside.  We will use the same type of ceramic tiles we used in Headland, only  in 10 different colours.

As I explained in an earlier post, I believe Art is the best way to develop creativity in people, because they can immediately see the result of their own creativity; and our world will need creators.

What is also very important is to help people realize what they can do as a group. Here, every individual makes a little mosaic, that little mosaic may not look very fancy by itself...

… But when you put side by side in an harmonious way all these little pieces, you get an amazing result.

 

This is why I like the concept of individual mosaics rather than having a group working on one big piece. In a group, the less assertive individuals might not be able to express themselves.


These workshops are open to students and teachers of Troy University AND  to the general public.

We would love to have you come join us, participate, and learn how to do these mosaics.

I will need much more participants for our 2016 projects, and am hoping to train people needed to lead small mosaic teams.

You need however, to REGISTER to participate so we can properly plan the workshops.



 
To Register and/or for more information, please contact :

• Donna Miller by email at dmiller@troy.edu or by phone at (334) 983 6556 ext 1321, or

• Frederic Lecut (me) by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639

 See you in October !

Touching mosaics

One very distinctive characteristics of mosaics versus other media, is that you can touch them. 

If you get in a museum, you cannot touch, actually, you often have people here to prevent you from touching. 

It is understandable, because no painting could be touched by hundreds of people without being destroyed. 

However, when it comes to children, they really need to touch things to fully REALIZE what stands in front of them. For Kids, seeing is not enough.

On June 19, 2015, we unveiled in Headland, Alabama a mosaic made by a group of 20 children. During the workshop, each kids had built a small mosaic with black and white tiles.

Individual mosaics

Later on, I had assembled the mosaics on one only panel. 

The Final Panel

Some of the kids who attended the presentation had not been involved with building. They really loved the final result, but what really was important to them was to be able to touch the final piece, and one small piece leftover from the workshop (I had a total of 21 pieces, and the final panel included 20 pieces).

I really love this picture...

This is a very important point in favour of mosaics as an art media for children. The tactile aspect is very important, this is how they best relate to their environment...

I am a modern mosaic artist with a deep admiration for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Arts. I live, create and teach mosaics in Headland, Alabama, USA. You can see my own mosaics on my site at mosaicblues. 

If you are interested by my work, my classes or would like to drop me a line please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at 
(334) 798 1639. 

 

You can also 

(and I recommend it !)

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER