Stunning Giant Mosaics unearthed in Uzes, France.

In Southern France Gard, the archaeologists of INRAP bring out the mysterious antic town of Uzès.

 

Since October 2016 over 4,000 square meters have been methodically dug in the highs of the city of Uzes.

 

The excavations in front of the old Gendarmerie barracks

Nothing was known of the antic Uzès except its name of Ucetia, and that it was the starting point of the aqueduct leading the water from the fountain of Eure to Nimes, through the Pont du Gard. 

Initially the archaeologists didn't think it was a major discovery. But the great quality of the vestiges they found testify of the importance of this Roman settlement.

Two magnificent mosaics

In front of the barracks of the Gendarmerie, where once was the vegetable garden of the gendarmes, a row of rooms was cleared, one of which, 60 square meters, has its floor covered with two magnificent mosaics, older than the ones discovered in Nimes. 

 
In the center of a succession of geometric borders a sun like image is surrounded by 5 crowns, themselves framed by four animals: an eagle, a fawn, an owl and... a duck.

The Eagle

 

The fawn. Note the gorgeous Svastiska border.

Minerva's owl ?

A radiant pattern adorns the medallion of the second mosaic, ornated of a red bordered cartouche at first sight empty. In reality, a name is written in white tesserae on a white background. Who is this Loukios Koinilos? A Lucius Cornilius? Was he the owner of the place, the mosaicist himself, or a patron who'd helped finance the building? 

It is not know yet if the building was a domus - a private villa owned by an important man of the city, or rather a public edifice as the dimensions of the hall and traces of colonnade suggest.

 

What was the symbolism of the mosaics ? Some animals might be attached to deities. The eagle to Jupiter, the doe to Diane, the owl to Minerva. But a Duck...

The Duck ???

Excavations will continue until August. Hopefully more beauties will be unveiled. 

One of the radiant wheels.

Don't you love this border ?

A simple piece embedded in the pavement of a different home

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

 

 

The Yezidi Mosaic Project, Spring 2017

Once again, the Yezidi are fleeing their homeland to escape fights that broke out between two rivals Kurdish factions. It saddens me how because of other people's differences, the Yezidi who have been the victims of many genocides, are not allowed to live in peace even after the ISIS barbarians have been chased away from their land.

I created this short video to promote my Yezidi mosaic project. 

The background music is a live version of "Gimme Shelter" a 1969 song about the Vietnam war, by the Rolling Stones. I have always loved this dramatic and powerful song. It owes so much to Merry Clayton singing "Rape, Murder, it's just a shot away" at the top of her lungs.

This song, unfortunately, perfectly illustrates the horrible reality Yezidi children and adults are confronted to...

I hope the Yezidi eyes mosaic portraits sell this year. I will donate 50 % of the proceeds to Free Yezidi Foundation. For this to happen we need help to organize a sale or auction.

We set up a website Yezidimosaics.com specially for this project.

If you would like to help or volunteer, please email us at yezidimosaics@gmail.com 

If you are unable to help in person, you might be able to share this post or video on Facebook or other social networks.

Thank you

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

 

Mosaique Fiesta 2017

Et voila, plus que 4 semaines et nous organiserons notre premiere edition de Mosaic Fiesta en la belle ville de Decatur (a cote d'Atlanta), en Georgie.

J'ai recu les photos de nombreux participants et suis presentement en train de realiser les modeles qu'ils utiliseront pour batir une mosaique de leurs propres yeux en utilisant ma technique Opus Pixellatum.

Ma derniere creation Pixellatum: Timeo Danaos et dona ferrentes

Je suis tres fier de partager publiquement cette nouvelle technique. C'est une chose a laquelle je tiens beaucoup. Je pense que lorsque vous creez une technique nouvelle, vous devriez la partager, au moins partiellement, avec le reste de votre communaute, afin que les gens puissent l'essayer, en detecter de possibles faiblesses et eventuellement l'ameliorer pour le bien etre commun. Je sais que d'autres personnes ne sont pas d'accord la dessus, mais c'est ainsi que je pense. 

Une petite video...

Joe Moorman, de Mosaic Art Supply sera notre hote pour cet evenement, et nous allons nous efforcer de faire en sorte que tout se passe dans une ambiance agreable et amusante. 

Pour en savoir plus  :
Email Joe a : inspire@mosaicartsupply.com 
Appelez  Frederic a : (334) 798 1630

Frederic Lecut est un mosaiste francais.

Il est alle s'insteller en Alabama en 1992.

Il s'efforce d'inspirer les gens par son art

Vous pouvez le contacter soit

par telephone au (334) 798 1639 ou par email a

frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

Vous pouvez egalement 
souscrire a sa lettre d'information

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

 

Dirty Business

Once you have flipped a mosaic, you remove the model and the mesh if you used one and see your work for the first time. Covered with dried up glue...

That pesky white glue is covering most of your tesserae in a varnish-like translucent coat.


 

Blue Carole, just flipped.

The glue needs to go ! 

Easier said than done...

Over the years I've slaved over the damn glue ! I've tried many ways, spent many many hours in the shower, scrubbing with various metallic and plastic brushes and scouring pads. Which actually works well, but it could take me up to 5 hours to properly clean one piece, that is lots of time to spend in a shower ! 

I once even tried to use a different kind of glue. One that the Romans were using: a flour based glue. I thought that glue might be easier than the synthetic water soluble one I had been so far using.

And yes, flour glue is very easy to eliminate. It dissolves beautifully in water. Unfortunately, it is also edible and I paid dearly for this... 

As I had one night just completed my Miriam mosaic.

I found it ravaged the next morning... A hungry rodent had liked the taste of my glue... (The little bastard soon died on my studio's floor where I found him. He did not digest well the shards of glass ingested with the glue)

I repaired the damages and stayed away from edible glues afterwards...

Having reverted to my White Elmer's Glue, I tried various chemicals. Vinegar, Hypochloric acid, Caustic Soda (NaOH), Drano, and possibly a few more I do not remember. In a few cases I created colorful fumes and almost choked to death. The shower still remained my best and safest option...

Then I had one of my brilliant ideas and purchased a pressure washer. Used at the right angle, this thing did wonders, allowing me to clean a 16 Square foot piece in 1 1/2 hour. 

The pressure washer is basically fantastic with 3/4" or bigger tesserae. 

But if you work with smaller tesserae the water jet easily lifts some of them and sends them flying all over the place, and the time spent in repairs may offset the time saved by using the pressure washer.

For my 3/16" tesserae, I decided last fall to try hot water. I boiled a big pot of water, poured some on my mosaic and scrubbed with steel wool. The glue went away nice and clean ! It worked beautifully, and this is now how I clean up my pieces.

I have one other mode of operation I'd like to try one day, but for the time being I am very satisfied with my hot water...

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

 

 

Carole's Eyes Series

Every morning begins with the animals, group hug with Tomoe and Itto.

​

Then we go together feed the chickens (the ones you hear in my videos) and pick up the eggs. 

As I have to walk through my studio to get to the chickens coops, I generally stop for a while to lay a few tesserae...

I'm presently working on an other pair of eyes. The same eyes, with variations, Variations on Carole's eyes !  I realized I like working on series; you take a design, a beautiful one, and then you create several pieces based on it to express different feelings, moods, or ideas. 

 

I completed the first Carole's Eyes last December, but it fell from its wall while I was gone and got damaged. This kind of stupid things happen, it was my fault. I am restoring her now, she will look just as good as before. She'll look great, the greatest ever, believe me...

​

Blue Carole, the second of this series, is almost complete, I still have to grout and frame her. She will be there by the end of the month...

And presently, I am working on 2 more variations. I played with colors, and added borders to them, the same kind of borders the Romans loved to use.  Why do you think I'm traveling all around the countries that were once part of the Roman Empire ?

​

This is Greek Carole Sepia. On the bench. I am building her reverse method like I do 98 % of my pieces. She is a mix of Opus Pixellatum and Opus Tessellatum. 

The frame is a very important enhancement for a painting. It attracts and focus the eyes of the amateur. Unfortunately you cannot frame a mosaic with a painting kind of frame. For the past 4 years I have been using 3/16" steel welded frames. They are an excellent way to structurally reinforce my mosaics, but aesthetically they bring nothing like a frame does to a painting. So I decided to follow the Masters by incorporating the frame in the mosaic itself !

Fish mosaic from Pompeii, 1st century AD

So here you have the model of Greek Carole Sepia...

And here is a Bluesier Carole. The original idea, it will be different. Opus Pixellatum allows me to improvise, and I am going to fully take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

This one will incorporate more vegetal patterns, Acanthus leaves, possibly  wisteria cascades...

I am currently experimenting with layered models. Instead of creating one very complicated model I create several of them and use them as layers, just like you can in a program create an image by combining several graphic layers. Some layers pixellatum, some tessellatum...

So you see, I am very inspired by modern technology to realize my pieces. 

• The theme or subject is always shrouded in a mysterious aura !  What's behind the Eyes? What's behind the Mirror of the Soul ? What's behind the Scouts of the Heart ? 
• The Aesthetic is enhanced by 2nd century AD border patterns and ,
• Techniques based on 21st century graphic softwares allow for a dreamatic new type of mosaics. (Yes, "dreamatic", it's new, its great, it's dreamlike, it's dreamatic ! believe me...)
•  

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