Flipping Yezidi 36

A Dream Team of assistants - the whole Wiregrass Museum of Art Staff ! - helped me flip Yezidi 36 this afternoon !

Ichi

Ni

 San

Shi

Et Voila ! 

Yezidi 36 is a 18 x 50" Opus Pixellatum mosaic made of thousands of glass tesserae. It is part of my Yezidi portraits collection. 

This collection will be sold or auctioned  this summer to raise funds for the Free Yezidi Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to protect and support the most vulnerable members of the Yezidi community in Kurdistan.

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

I believe artists should be deeply involved in their community, being local or global, and try to help people in need through their art.

 

To see more of these Yezidi mosaics and keep in touch with this project please follow my page Yezidi Mosaics Project.

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The WMA Mystery Mosaic

With the precious help of my good friend Greg Henderson, I designed last fall a new way to design and build mosaics. I named it Opus Pixellatum in reference to the digitalization of the design.

I will develop the concept in a next post. Asian Face is a good illustration of an Opus Pixellatum mosaic

My whole Yezidi Eyes collection is realized in Opus Pixellatum. 

Now, beginning this next Thursday, April 21st, at the Wiregrass Museum of Art, YOU - the public, will have the opportunity to build an Opus Pixellatum mosaic - the Mystery Mosaic - all by yourself ! 

I designed this Mystery Mosaic after a famous portrait. Measuring 4' x 4', this is the biggest mosaic I ever designed. I even had to build a special platform to work on it ! 

The principle is simple : it is basically Mosaic by Number ! Beside the colourful borders I already laid, the mosaic is composed of several thousand 3/4" x 3/4" glass tiles. There are seven different colours numbered from 1 (Pitch Black) to 7 (China White). These tiles are to be glued on the model, following the numbers printed on it. 

 

The mosaic is built reverse method : the tiles are laid upside down, on a mirror image of the actual finished mosaic. Once all the tiles are laid, a supporting frame is glued on top of the mosaic, then flipped, and one can see the mosaic for the first time ! 

Platform and Model have been installed in the downstairs hall of the Wiregrass Museum of Art.

Beginning on Thursday, April 21, and the duration of the "Made in Alabama" show, visitors to the Museum will have the opportunity to carefully and precisely glue the tiles on the model.

 

This being a Mystery Mosaic, I told no one (not even my daughter, ho was not pleased about it !) whose portrait the mosaic is and you are all encouraged to figure it out. 

Regular updates of the progression will be posted on a special WMA Mystery Mosaic Facebook Page.

Join us this coming Thursday at the Art after Hours event, and glue some tiles ! 

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 this project or by my work in general  or if you would simply 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

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Note : tiles used for the Mystery Mosaic are provided by Mosaicartsupply in Atlanta, GA.

The Yezidis Mosaics, April 2016

I completed last week the laying of the tesserae of the last mosaic of this set. Yezidi 36 is a portrait of a young female soldier. 

Yezidi 36

A very intense pair of eyes of a brave woman fighting for the right of her people to live peacefully on the land of their ancestors, practicing the religion of their choice. 

Here is the model : 

Please remember that because I work reverse method, I am building a mirror image of the model. Sometimes this week, I will glue a framed support on top of the mosaic, and will later flip it so we can finally see the mosaic looking very much like the model. 

Yezidi 36 will be spectacular, I have learned a lot building this collection, this new Opus Pixellatum technique I am now implementing really allows for stunning effects... I will have a hard time letting such beauty go, but I am not doing it for me, but to help the Free Yezidi Foundation which works tirelessly to advocate for greater attention and assistance in favour of the Yezidi refugees.

Yezidi 13 and 20 are at the welding shop where my friend Eddie is building their metallic frames. 

Yezidi 13

They should be completed within 2 weeks. 

Yezidi 20

If all goes well, the whole set of 7 mosaics should be complete by mid May 2016, and we will then start thinking of the best way to organize a sale or auction. 

I will donate 50 % of the profit of the sales to the Free Yezidi Foundation. 

 

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 this project or by my work in general  or if you would simply 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

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

to receive regular updates on this Yezidi Eyes Mosaic Project, 

and my other projects.

 

No Bad Practice.

You often hear the formula: "Practice makes Perfect."

Often after that, some smart self appointed expert pompously adds : "Perfect Practice makes perfect".

Now I would like  to bring up the following story, taken from a book Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland

'The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". 

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.'

Although clearly poor practice cannot make things perfect, if you wait to be able to practice perfectly to get started you won't achieve anything. 

When they were kids, Michelangelo and Vermeer certainly did ugly drawings... But they did not quit ! And they did not wait to paint perfectly to get started. 

"C'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron." *

I'd much rather teach goofy students who keep trying hard with a big heart than smart ones who do not dare to try anything by fear of not doing it right...

This is true of every activity involving training and practice :  Zen, Budo, Mosaics, Cooking, etc...

 

Poor practice is better than no practice. 

Takeyuki Miura Hanshi

Think about it,

Stand up and go Home to your Studio or Dojo.  

Practice your Art !

* One becomes a Smith by forging.

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@gmail.com   

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

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

Yezidi Mosaics update, March 17, 2016

My collection of 7 portraits of eyes of Yezidi children has  well progressed since our last update on February 2nd. At this time, Yezidi 20 still needed to be flipped, Yezidi 13 was 15 % complete, and Yezidi 36 existed only as a project.

I have now flipped 6 out of the 7 mosaics. Four of them are framed and ready to be displayed. Two of them (Yezidi 20 and 13) still need some cleaning to eliminate the glue.

Yezidi 20

I flipped Yezidi 13 on March 15, and taped the operation. Here is the video of this operation, this is the moment when one sees the actual mosaic for the first time... A very moving one !

At this time, I have laid 10 % of Yezidi 36

Yezidi 36 - Work in Progress

The 7 mosaics should be ready by mid April. I would like to sell them to raise funds to help the Free Yezidi Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping the Yezidi people from Iraq and Syria. We have started thinking about the way we could organize a sale / auction. We have little experience on this matter, and all help or suggestion is welcome.

If you have some experience in organizing this kind of charity / fund raising event, please contact me 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 some of my own mosaics on my site mosaicblues.

 

If you are interested by this project or by my work in general 
or if you would simply 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

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

to receive regular updates on this
Yezidi Eyes Mosaic Project, 

and my other projects.

A small Asian Portait in Opus Pixelatum

Here is an animation demonstrating my Opus Pixellatum way of building mosaics. 

Enjoy !

In this type of work the design part is quite long to create the model. The laying is done following numbers, so you don't see at all what you are doing... This way of laying goes usually a little faster  than if you'd work following a more modus operandi, as in for example an Opus Tesselatum work. 

One could say this Opus Pixellatum is a "mosaic by number" process, and I do not have any problem with this...

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 a portrait realized in this technique, or a more traditional mode of realization 

or if you would simply 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

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

 

Yezidis Mosaics update, February 2nd, 2016

During the fall 2015, I launched a Yezidi Eyes mosaic project. I am realizing a collection of eyes of Yezidi refugees. The Yezidi - sometimes spelled Yazidi - are a people persecuted by ISIS - DAESH because of their religion. They are being massacred, raped, sold, enslaved. Several international organizations are trying to help them. 

I am working with the Free Yezidi Foundation, an organization seeking to implement projects to protect and support the most vulnerable members of the Yezidi community.

Our goal is to sell - or auction these mosaics to raise funds and raise the awareness of the general public about the fact they are being the victims of a crimes against humanity and genocide.

At this point one mosaic - Yezidi 02 - is complete.

3 mosaics are almost complete, all the tiles have been laid, I still need to finish them, lots of cleaning, grouting, have the frame done and install it. 

Yezidi 01 is the first mosaic I made in the sepia tone, I used it as the model for Yezidi 02 in Black and White.

Yezidi 11 is of a young girl covering her eyes from the bright sun.

Yezidi 21 is a young boy.

The cold and humid weather has delayed me. At the time I am writing, I have grouted these last 3 pieces.
 

I have started  to work in 2016 on 3 additional pieces.

Yezidi 20 is fully laid and needs to be supported and flipped for finition.

Yezidi 13 is at about 15 % completion, you cannot see any features of the piece yet. (Surprise...)

Finally Yezidi 36 is at this time only a project, I have printed the model, but will only start to lay the tiles once I have flipped Yezidi 20 and its working table becomes available !

This one is not of a child, but of a young Yezidi woman soldier. It will be like the previous ones realized in Black and White colours.

These 7 mosaics should be ready by mid April. We have started thinking about the way we could organize the sale / auction. We have little experience on this matter, and all help, or suggestion is welcome.

If you have experience in organizing this kind of charity / fund raising event, please contact me 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 some of my own mosaics on my site mosaicblues.

 

If you are interested by this project or by my work in general 

or if you would simply 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

SUBSCRIBE to my

NEWSLETTER

to receive regular updates on this

Yezidi Eyes Mosaic Project, 

and my other projects.