If you follow my social media, you will have seen progress pics of a large commission I’ve been working on since September. This is for a private client and will be inlaid into a patio that overlooks the Puget Sound, with the Olympic Mountain Range and Tacoma Narrows Bridge within view. The client had originally planned for a water feature in that spot, but canceled that in favor of a mosaic element suggesting flowing water instead. It will be a long, undulating river of blue smalti with river rock as a border between the mosaic and large format tiles on each side. After a few sketches, we settled on a softly curved shape for the river, with winding ribbons of blues for the andamento, giving it a combination of serenity (the overall shape and tones) and energy (lots of twists and curves within the river.)
I fabricated the mosaic in sections in my studio, and it took a bit longer than I anticipated. I lost my race with winter and freezing temperatures, so the installation is on hold until spring. But, I was able to lay it all into place and see it together for the first time on location last week. I really love it, and it’s going to be wonderful to see it installed when the time comes.
*FYI: The Mosaic Arts Online workshop “Professional Mosaic Art Installations” teaches this method, where the sections are completed, including grout, prior to installation. This speeds up the process and simplifies everything because the sections can be set into a thick bed of mortar, ensuring full contact, even where the substrate is uneven, with very little thinset filling interstices. Then, only the seams need to be grouted. Find the workshop here:https://mosaicartsonline.com/p/professional-mosaic-installations-with-jennifer-kuhns
