All posts filed under: Blog posts

This little town of mine let it shine

Published by gertrud

…. this verse slightly altered from a song I once sang with my choir comes to my mind being around Kathleen Crocetti and her mosaic projects in Watsonville. Her dream is to make Watsonville the Barcelona of California together with the young community of the 50.000 inhabitants of a small agriculture town situated in the fertile back garden of Monterey Bay/California. A lot of nutrition is produced and exported here on large farms with immigrants hands. Strawberries, lettuce, artichokes, apples you name it have been tended to since over 100 years by many groups of immigrant workers. Some stayed. At the moment 85% of Watsonville’s population is of Mexican heritage. Still the average income here is a quarter less than that of near by Santa Cruz/CA. The difference in between pitoresque coast dwellings like Monterey or Carmel and Watsonville is striking on first sight. In the coast cities individual wealth designs beautiful cost homes and inviting shop fronts and brings in enough tax money to make sturdy wooden public walkways with views of the beautiful …

Mosaics of Bergama/Pergamon

Published by gertrud

Many of you know the famous “Pergamon Museum” in Berlin. Where is this place Pergamon? I had the chance to visit the archeological museum of the ancient city Pergamon in Turkey this summer again. 7 years ago during my mosaic conservation studies at the University Ankara I spent one day with the conservation team of Bergama Archeological Project. During that day I was given permission to photograph the mosaics from the masque mosaic floor which originates from 2.c AD. The mosaic is beautifully preserved and presented in the building Z on the Acropolis hill of the Archeological Museum Bergama . It was a joy coming back after all this time. The gallery below is a mix from my recent photos and the photos of 2007. Enjoy! On our stroll through the ruins one small detail took my attention. I saw a braided pattern in a stone carving on one of the unearthed pieces exhibited which reminded me of a similar pattern in ancient mosaics. Funnily I could find this detail in one of the …

Pique Assiette using ancient Chinese porcelain

Published by gertrud

Pique Assiette is a mosaic technique that was invented around 1930 by a grave yard digger in Chatre in northern France. He decorated his house in- and outside with shards from broken plates and cups. “Pique assiette – Picked up plates” since then has developed into a well known mosaic technique. I would say in the past 10 years the technique saw a revival. Famous artists like Gila Rayberg in the US use this technique masterfully to make their projects. When SuNan from the porcelain studio Caicifang in Beijing contacted me about an exhibition of my mosaic art and workshops in their studio, I was intrigued to use this technique with ancient Chinese porcelain shards. One of the neighbouring shops of Caicifang is a sculptor who makes the mascot of Beijing – the rabbit god in many different shapes and colours. There is a lovely story about this mascot: The rabbit is the pet of the moon goddess Chang-e. When there was a plague in Beijing and inhabitants of the city fell ill and died, …