All posts filed under: Mosaics around the world

Trip to the past

Published by gertrud

In October I went back to Turkey to where I started to get interested in mosaics. It was a special pleasure to have 2 full days on my own to visit the 3 main mosaic places and indulge in these magnificent world of Byzantine mosaics. First I cued early to be the first one inside the Hagia Sophia to have an unobstructed view before the big crowd arrived. The Great Palace mosaic museum, just behind the blue mosque, is always empty and a joy to appreciate the fine mosaics depicting nature and human life, one of the most beautiful mosaics found from the early Byzantine period (early 6 century CE) and beautifully displayed including very interesting explanations of the conservation process. The late Byzantine mosaics 1303-1320 CE of the Chora Church are my favorites. Such fine works and lovingly depicted scenes of Stories the Bible are now to be viewed in full after years of conservation. On my walk across Istanbul in the now hip neighborhood Balat I came across a mosaic tiled facade of …

Mosaics in Beijing

Published by gertrud

And again …. mosaics are in my neighborhood. This mosaic is spread along the entire platform of our metro station Dongsi Shitiao of line 2, one of the oldest metro lines in Beijing. A nice research project for me to find out more about the artist and manufacturing workshop when I come back from holiday in September.  

USA mosaic trip – part three – Detroit

Published by gertrud

In Detroit my dear friend Miriam Engstrom, psychologist, singer and actor, who I met at our posting in Ankara, showed me around this incredible interesting city. Miriam is from a three generation Detroit family – so she took me to the place her grandmother worked in. Inside the Guardian Building – colorful tiled comb structured vaults by Rookhook Ceramics (later restored by Pewabic Pottery) and cast iron gateEdit Later we visited the Pewabic Pottery established by Mary Chase Perry Stratton in the early 1900 in Detroit. The pottery workshop is one of the few renowned ceramic manufacturers in the US until today. The pottery developed in swing with the arts and crafts movement in America as in Europe at the beginning of the 20st century. As Mary C. Stratton Perry came from a fine art degree and a career in painting china, she started making vessels. Later she became more and more a ceramic artist and fabricant for ceramic tiles and mosaic style art for architectural surfaces. In Detroit there are eight public buildings that …