Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Contemporary Fine Art Mosaic Techniques

This quote from Maestro Giulio Menossi from Udine, Italy just about says it all:

“I believe that the slow painstaking mosaic process exposes our personal stories. The difficulties of the journey follow the lines of the glass, where each tessera represents a new encounter, where hues and shades harmonize into new colors. Where the shapes, too close to our noses don’t allow us to recognize the vision as a whole, which we only discover by taking several steps backward and looking with fresh eyes.

Creating a mosaic is a process of pairing, shaping, adding and removing tessera after tessera, until the work is complete. Each piece needs to be chosen not only according to the one that precedes it, but also taking into consideration the ones that will follow. It is a process of deliberate construction where the most important element is passion.”

Menossi is a master at using glass tile to create fine art.

His renderings whether they are portraits or contemporary abstracts are rich with design mosaic techniques, color, style and a variety of materials from glass tile to found objects and stone. Viewing the fine art mosaic of Menossi is similar to taking a walk through a candy store. The richness and exquisite detail of each piece is exhilarating, a true treat to the heart, mind and eyes.

In 1998 Menossi created a pivotal work of glass tile mosaic art which start him on the journey to what he now terms his “dynamic mosaics”. While he is most recognized for his fine art portraiture, he is winning awards for his creative contemporary art mosaic abstract.

The glass tile fine art mosaic portraiture in the hands of the Maestro is an truly amazing, exciting and passionate piece of art. Using the ancient techniques and tools, the hammer and hardi, he is able to cut exact and precise pieces of hard glass to shape expressive eyes, the curve of the lips, to design and place the glass with techniques that give depth and perspective to the expressions of the face. These mosaics particularly are used in churches, as memorials, in homes as wall art, in spas, pools and in public buildings.

With the advent of his “dynamic mosaics", the contemporary abstract fine art mosaics he is traveling a new path and creating a new road for mosaic art. These 3D sculptural mosaics are lively, colorful, with a variety of material and definitely dynamic. The shapes often times explode past what the viewer might think would be the boundaries of the design, causing the person viewing the mosaic to move and flow with the design. In these dynamic mosaics Menossi often hides symbols or perhaps a dragon fly, causing the viewer to search among the glass tiles in order to see the hidden objects.

The strongest voice comes from complete mastery of what has come before us, right up to the minute prior to finding our own voice and style as a master. But becoming a master of the work will always miss something if not built upon the explorations of the past before striking out on one's own.

Maestro Menossi in his apprenticeship with Maestro Domenico Colledani of Milan learned and mastered all the fundamentals before he would break away and develop his outstanding career. Now he invites you to join this ancient tradition, by working with him, through direct study and his guidance, as a way of fully developing your own unique style. Menossi bases his teaching on the oldest traditions of mosaics rooted in time, place, and tradition but also in striking innovation which arises from a true and deep understanding of what mosaics were, are, and will be.

Maestro Menossi knows that giving anything less to the students he is teaching would denigrate and diminish the rich and ancient traditions of mosaic art and would be disastrous to the students that come to him to learn.

The fundamental skills that are required to create beautiful mosaics are the same for figural work, portraits, interpretations, abstract works and the unique and original designs that come from the artist's own heart and mind.

Following in this tradition, the classes that Maestro Menossi is offering in 2010 will establish within you as a student the deepest roots upon which to build your own unique style. You will certainly find your own voice and style in the workshops which Menossi presents.

Maestro Menossi is offering two, two week classes in 2010. The first one May 16 -28 he will be teaching his portraiture techniques using the Venetian double indirect method and the second course May 30 – June 11 he will teach the direct method as a way discover a reinterpretation of a Klimt painting.

Why not study and work directly with one of the great mosaic masters of our time... one who combines the deep traditions and the deep, solid roots of the past (where they actually were expressed, in Italy) with the thrilling potential of the future. Go directly to the source and study with one of the greatest Maestro of our time, Giulio Menossi.

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