Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today

I am en route to New York this morning and I'm planning to continue posting while I'm gone, though my schedule will be pretty erratic. I'll have plenty to write about.

I have meetings with the product development and marketing folks from Brizo this afternoon and evening, I'm going to GE Monogram's flagship showroom In the A&D Building tomorrow morning and of course the Jason Wu runway show tomorrow afternoon. On Saturday I've arranged a studio visit and interview with the great mosaic artists Angele and Yakov Hanansen and then a walk down the new High Line with my great friend Tom. Throw in some great dinners with friends in the city and this has all the makings of a productive and eventful weekend in the City. Avanti!

Congratulations Julie Richey!

for immediate release............September 9, 2009 ORSONI PRIZE 2009 International Award for Mosaic Fine Art WINNERS

Julie Richey Grand Prize Night Shirt Night Shirt detail Magda Busetto Honorable Mention Occhio Orsoni Smalti Veneziani Kate Kerrigan Finalist Rainy Day Central Park Greg Haas Finalist Blue Wave Angela Staehling Finalist Coraux Rouges

Venice, Italy..............Orsoni Smalti Veneziani is proud to announce the winners of the Orsoni Prize 2009, the International Award for Mosaic Fine Art. The Grand Prize has been awarded to Julie Richey for her sculptural work, Night Shirt.  Richey will receive Euro 1,000 and a trip to Venice, Italy to attend a 1 week Master in Mosaic workshop at Orsoni. Her award winning mosaic will be exhibited at the Angelo Orsoni Gallery.

The jurors,  Lucio Orsoni, Honorary President, Angelo Orsoni and  Pino Bisazza, President, Trend Group chose Night Shirt because of the artist's exceptional success in depicting an "atmospheric landscape of pure poetry that harmonizes with sculptural form of the clothing."   

Honorable Mention was awarded to Magda Busetto for creating the "the startling effect of being watched." Busetto will receive 3 kilos of Orsoni 24 k gold mosaic. In addition 3 Finalists were named, Kate Kerrigan, Greg Haas and Angela Staehling. Each of these artists will receive 1 kilo of Orsoni 24k gold mosaic.

 This year 98 submissions were received from 15 countries. All submissions will be posted on the Orsoni web site www.orsoni.com in October. The biennial prize will be offered again in 2011.

Orsoni Smalti Veneziani has been producing smalti and 24 k gold mosaic since 1888 in the Cannaregio district of Venice, Italy. In 2008 Orsoni was awarded the Premio Firenze Donna, Italy's prestigious cultural award.

The Master of Mosaic workshops located at the foundry are taught by Maestra Antonella Gallenda throughout the year. Participants stay at Domus Orsoni, the enchanting bed and breakfast located steps away from the mosaic studio.   

Have you seen back-painted glass?

I had a conversation over the weekend with someone who couldn't decide on a back splash material. Her kitchen's beautiful, and modern. It's a symphony of horizontal planes and sleek surfaces. I love it. Despite my growing reputation as the mosaic guy, when I first saw the space a mosaic isn't what popped into my head. Instead of a mosaic, I suggested that she consider sheets of back-painted glass.

Back-painted glass is exactly what it sounds like it would be. It's a sheet of 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" or 3/4" thick clear glass. The back of the glass is painted and then baked on. As a result, you look through a layer of clear glass at a color in the back. It's a terrific effect, the color appears to float.

Glass comes in 130" x 84" sheets so it's very possible to cover whole areas with seamless glass. Sometimes, back-painted glass gets installed as smaller panels, but that's almost always an aesthetic call.

The photos scattered across this post are from Soda Glass, a northern California coated glass manufacturer. They have retailers in San Francisco and in Sacramento. Other manufacturers and suppliers across the US, Canada and Europe are plentiful. Nothing else looks or behaves like this material. I cannot for the life of me imagine it in anything but a really minimalist setting. Am I wrong?

Mosaic Art and Style: Designs for Living Environments

Mosaic Art and Style celebrates the integration of mosaics into the landscape of our daily lives. Not content to create fine art mosaics that hang on a wall in respectful silence, artists are creating architectural installations, sculpture and furniture that enliven our living environments. The ancient Greek and Romans knew 3,000 years ago that mosaics were the perfect melding of functionality, durability and beauty. Artists throughout the world are now redefining ancient traditions and transforming environments with individual fragments known as tesserae.

So begins JoAnn Locktov's Mosaic Art and Style, a curated exhibit of contemporary mosaic art in book form. Mosaic Art and Style is a world survey of mosaic installations featuring the work of 75 artists who carry this ancient art form from back splashes to back yards, from gardens to guest rooms and from floors to furniture. The work in Locktov's book encompasses and embraces the wide range of mosaic art as it's practiced today. These works are alternately compelling and whimsical, sometimes contemplative and always dynamic.

Judi Brennan

Mosaic Room: Overview Concrete block, cement, netting, 
ceramic tile. 36' x 21'

photo courtesy of the artist

Judi Brennan

Mosaic Room: sofa, wall and lamp detail Concrete block,
 netting, ceramic tile

photo courtesy of the artist

Judi Brennan

Mosaic Room: wall with window detail concrete block, 
cement, netting, ceramic tile

photo courtesy of the artist

Locktov's book is split into two parts. The first half consists of in-depth profiles of the work of 17 different artists. She shows their work in page after page of beautifully shot photography with generous breaks to delve into the creative processes behind the work pictured.

Richard Moss

Cityscape, New York City marble, granite, smalti, ceramic. 34" x 22"

photo courtesy of John Polak Photography

Richard Moss

Ostian Sea (detail) semiprecious stone, marble, granite, 
ebonized cherry wood. 34" diameter

photo courtesy of John Polak Photography

Richard Moss

Ostian Sea (in situ) semiprecious stone, marble, granite, 
ebonized cherry wood. 34" diameter

photo courtesy of John Polak Photography

The second section is a gallery of both public and private spaces. In the gallery, Locktov showcases the work of 58 artists. Just as with the first section, these works are integrated into life and into real environments. Whether they're in a school, a restaurant, a hospital or a park, the work profiled in the gallery challenge and delight in equal measure.

Mosaic Art and Style is filled with more than 350 photographs of some great art and it's intended to be an inspirational resource for artists, designers, homeowners and anyone who's looking for some insight into what's possible.

Karen Thompson

Kitchen --Private Residence 50 square feet

photo courtesy of Russel MacMasters

JoAnn Locktov is a public relations consultant to mosaic artists, tile companies and designers. She's also a passionate admirer and tireless enthusiast for mosaic art. Her fervor is contagious and every page of Mosaic Art and Style is imbued with it. Mosaic Art and Style is a welcome and treasured addition to my library, so much so that it's taken up residence on the end of my sofa. All the better to page through it when the mood strikes. Get a copy.

Let's keep Labor in Labor Day

And by that I mean an appreciation for labor, both the organized and the casual kind. It's become fashionable to ignore the accomplishments of the Labor Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but every single working adult today owes those brave men and women a tremendous debt. They put their lives on the line to guarantee themselves and their descendants a better life.

The Andrew Carnegies and Henry Clay Fricks of the world left a great legacy and they accomplished great things. However, it was their immigrant labor force and their refusal to be treated like slaves any longer that left a more lasting and widespread mark on our culture. Labor Day was intended to be a day to commemorate those same, unionized workers. This link, from the US Department of Labor, gives a brief explanation of why today is a US holiday.

The American Labor movement has been controversial since its violent birth well over a century ago. The last 30 years of American politics and economic practice have done a thorough job of demonizing organized labor and its history, but it's a lie. It's a campaign of lies actually and it's been unrelenting. But at the end of the day, Exxon and IBM did not come up with the five-day, 40-hour work week out of the goodness of their hearts. Just about every idea you have and I have about work and life balance came about at the insistence of organized labor. Despite what you might think of the AFL-CIO or the UAW, you're still standing on their shoulders. History works like that.

There was some great literature that came out of that era. If you've never read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, or Jacob Riis' How the Other Half Lives, pick up a copy of either. Or both.






Better yet, pick up a copy of Paul Krause's The Battle for Homestead, 1880-1892. You'll never look at your work life the same way again.






I'll put away my Norma Rae routine for now. I'm seeing clients today, so there's no rest for this American laborer. Whatever you're doing today, I hope it's fun.