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

 

Opus Pixellatum - Sheet Music of Mosaics

When I invented Opus Pixellatum in 2015, I wanted a new, faster technique to build mosaics to build huge portraits of the eyes of Yezidi refugees.

Yezidi 37

The principle of Opus Pixellatum is simple. From an original picture, I design and print a grid of vertical and horizontal lines. These lines define square cells.

 

Detail of Yezidi 36 model

On each cell is printed a number corresponding to a colour. I generally use 7 colours from White to Black. So the numbers range from 1 to 7.  

Yezidi 36 model.

 

I build the mosaic by gluing inside each cell the tile corresponding to its number.

Detail of Yezidi 36, Work in Progress

Opus Pixellatum basically seems to be a “Mosaic by Number” system. In itself it has nothing really exciting, but then came the AHA moment...

Building my series of Yezidi eyes, I started to realize there was much more to this technique than I had originally envisioned.

For one thing, you do not need to lay all the tiles to actually begin seeing the image you are trying to create...

Yezidi 20, only half the tiles are laid.

This would allow me to use additional colours different from the 7 ones originally defined. And so I used this on my Yezidi 37.

Detail of the eye of Yezidi 37

 

After completion of my Yezidi series, I decided to experiment mixing together Opus Pixellatum and Tesselatum on the same piece. Which resulted in Carole’s Eyes.

 

Once Caroles’ eyes done I created Blue Carole, in which I replaced all nuances of Grays by nuances of Blues. The result here again, is very interesting...

Blue Carole on the bench - December 12, 2016

What we actually have here with Opus Pixellatum is a totally new way yo approach the laying of Mosaics. This technique provides not just a model, for the artist, but a guide to allow him to express his creativity in a much more improvisional way !  

You can compare the Opus Pixellatum model to the Sheet Music of a symphony.  

If you are a beginner, you try to play it exactly as written by the Author. But if you are a Master, you can allow for improvisation, throw your genius in, and it is probably what the author would have wanted you to do ! 

This is so Cool ! 

 

In 2017, I will research Opus Pixellatum as a way to bring improvisation in mosaics. I will also teach the use of the technique to small groups o f students. I’ll keep posting about this.

 

Keep in touch !

 

I am a French mosaic artist based in Alabama. 

My Art is about Inspiring People.

 

If you are interested by my work, please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

 

You can also subscribe to my NEWSLETTER

At the Mercy of War.

Sharbat Gula's green eyes were immortalized on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. You might have seen her at your dentist's office, or picking up your mail.

She got your attention. 

She was the inspiration for my second eye mosaic. 

Gula was just 12 when Steve McCurry took her picture in a refugees camp in Peshawar along Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan.


Now in her 40s, Gula is still in Peshawar, one of at least 1.5 million Afghan refugees who resides in Pakistan. But as of October 2016, she is in police custody on charges of possessing a fake Pakistani national identification card. 

Her mug shot  illustrates the  sad story Gula shares with countless women and children at the mercy of wars they did not started or want.

She faces seven to 14 years in prison and a fine of $3,000 to $5,000 if convicted.

I am not sure how to help her, but I would gladly build an other mosaic of Gula's eyes, and donate half of the profit of the sale if someone would commission such a piece. 

Yezidi people suffer in even worse ways Gula is suffering. I have realized a set of 8 mosaics of the eyes of Yezidi children and women and am still trying to find a way to organize a sale or auction for them. 

I will donate half of the profit to the Free Yezidi Foundation, an organization dedicated to relieving the sufferings of the Yezidi people. 


We are in need of help to organize this event. If you believe you could help,  please contact me at
frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com or Allyson who is the US responsible for Free Yezidi Foundation at Allyson.nelson@gmail.com.




More about Sharbat Gula.

More about The Yezidi Mosaic Project

I am a French mosaic artist based in Alabama. My Art is about Inspiring People.

If you are interested by my work, please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to my NEWSLETTER

 

The Troy Benches - Les Bancs de Troy.

The Wiregrass Mosaic Project consists of covering several sets of concrete table and benches located on the Dothan Campus with individual mosaics created bya a great number of individuals. 

Over 500 people each created a small mosaic on a piece of fiberglass mesh.

Now I am setting these mosaics on top of the benches.

Later on this summer  I will fill the space between tiles with a coloured grout.

Hopefully we will have a grand magnificent opening in the early fall !
 



 
This project is being realized in partnersip with the Troy University Library and the Wiregrass Museum of Art

Le Projet de Mosaïques du Wiregrass consiste a recouvrir plusieurs ensembles de tables et bancs en béton avec de petites mosaïques individuelles. .

Plus de 500 personnes ont chacune réalisé une petite mosaïques sur un morceau de toile de verre. 

Sur cette vidéo j'installe les mosaiques sur les bancs. 

 
Je suis désolé, la première partie de la vidéo est en Anglais, j'ai ajoute des sous-titres. 

Plus tard cet été je remplirais les joints avec un mortier de remplissage. J’espère avoir une inauguration au début de l'automne. 

Ce projet est réalise en partenariat avec la bibliothèque de la Troy University a Dothan, Alabama, et le Wiregrass Museum of Art. 

I am a French mosaic artist based in Alabama. My Art is about Inspiring people, I am presently working on these huge portraits of the eyes of Yezidi Refugees. If you are interested by my work, please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to my NEWSLETTER

Je suis un Artiste Mosaïste installe en Alabama. Mon Art est a propos de l'Inspiration. Présentement, je travaille a ces grands portraits des Yeux de réfugiés Yézidis. 

Si mon travail vous intéresse vous pouvez me contacter par téléphone au 334 798 1639 (aux Etats Unis), ou par email a frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

 

Vous pouvez aussi souscrire a ma Lettre d'Information

Cross Training

Cross-Training is a term often employed in the worlds of Business and Sports.
But such an activity can also be very beneficial for Artists and other creative persons !

Think about it...



Cross Training - English 20160730 from Frederic Lecut on Vimeo.

Cross Training est un anglicisme souvent rencontre dans les domaines de l'Entreprise ou du Sport. 

Mais ce type d'activites peut aussi etre tres benefique pour les artistes et autres creatifs !

Pensez-y !

 

Cross Training - Francais 20160730 from Frederic Lecut on Vimeo.

I m a French mosac artist based in Alabama. My Art is about Inspiring people, I am presently working on huge portraits of the eyes of Yezidi Refugees. A few times a year, I also do commissions.  
If you are interested by my work, please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to my NEWSLETTER

Je suis un Artiste Mosaiste installe en Alabama. Mon Art est a propos de l"Inspiration. N ce moment, je travaille a de grands portraits des Yeux de refugies Yezidis. Chaque annee, je realise aussi quelques portraits de mosaique pour des particuliers. 
Si mon travail vous interesse vous pouvez me contacter par telephone au 334 798 1639 (aux Etats Unis), ou par email a frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

 

Vous pouvez aussi souscrire a ma Lettre d'Information

Wheels of Fortune

The Wheel of Fortune, symbol of the fickleness of human fortune, has been represented in mosaics since the Roman times. 

 

Pompeii, 1st century AD

When this unique Roman Wheel of Fortune spins,  the rich (symbolised by the purple cloth on the left) becomes poor, and the poor (symbolised by the skin of a goat on the right) rich. 

Life, however, is very precarious, death is lurking at every moment,  suspended by a thread; if it breaks, the soul - symbolized by the butterfly - flies away.

 
  

Siena Duomo, 1372

 

Earliest panel of the Siena Duomo, the Wheel of Fortune was built in 1372. It was restored in the 1860s with many of its marble inlays replaced, worn nearly featureless by centuries of tramping pilgrims and tourists.

 

 

 

Koelner Dom, 1887

In this modern Wheel of Fortune mosaic (quite similar to the previous one) from the Cologne Cathedral (designed in 1885) a young man uses all his strength to spin the wheel of fortune. As the wheel turns, he is first carried upwards by a spoke of the wheel, experiences elation as he gets his heart’s desire, and is then carried downwards again. As the cycle begins again, the man contemplates the hand Fortune has dealt him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York, 20th century

Closer to us 20th century mosaic is located at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue Subway Station in New York. 

 

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

 

If you are interested by my work in general  or if you would simply like to drop me a line, please 

contact me by email at frederic.lecut@mosaic.com   

or by phone at (334) 798 1639.  You can also

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

The Standard of Ur

I was so excited to visit the British Museum last week. I did not have much time and had to hurry through a few rooms mostly Western European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern antiquities...

Now sometimes you hear, and see pictures of famous pieces of Art, and you think you know a lot about them, like the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon, the Eiffel Tower, but when you actually SEE them with your own eyes, it's different, because you can actually relate to them. One point that has often surprised me is that I had false assumptions about the size of the work, or object.

I remember waking toward the Pont du Gard once - an aqueduct built by the Romans during the 1st century, and realizing how enormous that bridge was. Or when I went to see the Girl with the Pearl Earring in Atlanta a few years ago. I realized how small this paining was...

So I had heard about the Standard of Ur for a long time, I had even blogged about it a while ago, and I had imagined that piece much bigger than it actually is. 

The four sides are decorated with inlaid mosaic scenes made from shell, red limestone and Lapis Lazuli set in Bitumen.

The 2 main panels display War and Peace at the time of Sumer.

On the "War" panel the king stands in the middle taller than any other figure, his head projecting out of the frame to emphasize his supreme status. 

On the "Peace" panel he sits on a carved stool attending a Banquet, faced by other participants, holding cups raised in their right hand. It could be the banquet celebrating victory over other kingdoms.

Here is a short video I shot of this remarkable piece I was so happy to get to see in person !

This type of mosaic is called Opus Sextile or Sectile. In this technique materials are cut and inlaid into panels, walls or floors to make a picture or pattern. Common materials are marble, mother of pearl, and glass.  

Basilica of Junius Bassus - Rome, Italy - 331 AD

 

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

 

If you are interested by my work in general  or if you would simply like to drop me a line, please 

contact me by email at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

or by phone at (334) 798 1639.  You can also 

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER