The Field

Inspired by the Brunner Farmhouse,
I re-created the scene I see almost every day as I drive through Broomfield Open Space. The house is created with scrapbook paper, covered with tempered glass. Other items used were beads, wire, and stained glass.

The Walk

My dear friend was to accompany her husband and his son on the Camino de Santiago walk.  Unfortunately, she broke her ankle and the trip was canceled. Another friend had been on the walk and graciously sent me her photos.  I picked one to re-create in mosaics to cheer my friend up.  It was created using thinset for the sky and ground, tile, wire, and lots of beads!

Thickly Settled

While visiting my parents who lived on Cape Cod, my dad would take shortcuts through a myriad of small neighborhoods.  I always saw the “Thickly Settled” signs meaning, drive with caution as there are lots of people who live around these streets. It seemed fitting to create a "Thickly Settled” caution sign for Mother Earth The material used was porcelain tiles, beads, tile, ball chain and a tile with a real photograph of the Earth.

Joy

What to do with a beautiful frame? Created a colorful mosaic to put in it! Beads, tiles, and antique wire pieces created this joy.

Bunny’s Breakfast

We have a lot of bunnies in Colorado and they have wiped out by my yard! Luckily, my flowers have not been eaten like this bunny is enjoying!  The mosaic is made from tiles, lava mosaics, beads, spikes, and tempered glass. The blue background was colored with alcohol ink!

Fall Swirls

This was a fun piece to create leaves in different size circles, created by wire, tiles, and beads.

Cold Storage Beach

Who can resist an old wicker mirror found in ARC? This was a perfect base to create an image of my favorite place on Cape Cod—Cold Storage Beach. My family has been going to Cold Storage and Sea Street Beach for over 50 years. There are lots of little sand hills with rocks and sea grass that lead to the beautiful beach. Tempered glass, scrapbook paper, pebbles, and spines were used in this mosaic’s creating.

Tide

I participated in a class entitled “From Concept to Creation.” the instructor challenged us to create a piece of our origin. My thoughts went to Cold Storage Beach and the movement of water as the tide comes in and out. The materials used were sandpaper in different colors, clear stained glass, and washers painted white to represent the bubbles in the surf.

Rainbow Reimagined

This piece was inspired by a class I had taken at SAMA with David Jarvinen.  I enjoyed using the colors of the rainbow in unique shapes.  The material used was wire, beads, and tile. SOLD!

What Lies Ahead

“What Lies Ahead” was inspired by my ancestors who came to Colorado from Sweden in the mid-1800s. They were among the first to settle the areas of Boulder, Loveland, and Berthoud. My dad also wondered what the pioneers felt when they were in Kansas and first saw the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Wedi Board is the substrate with colored thinset for the sky and ground. The mountains and pioneer woman are designed with scrap paper and then covered with tempered glass. The prairie grass consists of wire and various beads. The road is made of wire as well.

Swedish Dala Horse

I had the opportunity to meet a distant Swedish relative this spring. He is the great-nephew of my maternal grandmother who was also Swedish and related to those who came to Colorado. Just seeing him brought back so many wonderful memories of my grandmother. I lost her when I was 8; having breakfast with my distant cousin was like eating with my grandmother. The “Swedish Dala Horse” was created from a lot of memories as well as many Dala horses that I have accumulated over the years. The base is Wedi Board, covered with colored thinset. The horse is made out of seed beads; the lingonberries are from wire and other beads.

...and Thrive

The Institute of Mosaic Art's Call for Artists asked each artist to enter a piece that embodied the thought of "Bloom." The first thing that popped into my mind was the saying, "Bloom Where You Are Planted." The name of the piece is "...and Thrive." The girl dancing says it all to me — be happy where you are! The piece was  created using Wedi Board, thinset, smalti, wire, tubular beads, gemstones, and metal.

Grief

This piece was inspired by a personal story. According to a search on the Internet, there are seven colors of grief. The white, in this piece, is from the icy heart. Orange signifies shock; yellow is denial; red is anger; blue is grief; purple is bargaining; black is depression, and green is acceptance. The design indicates a broken heart with acceptance coming in the middle. This was a very healing piece to create — grief comes in waves and changes every day.

It was created with Wedi Board, thinset; wire, beads, and smalti.

Nantucket Basket

This mosaic was donated to the 2014 International Mosaic Exhibit and Auction to benefit Doctors without Borders.

“Nantucket Basket” was created to provide a sense of tranquility to those who work in a chaotic and harsh environment. As the mother of a doctor, I admire the courage, dedication and tenacity of those who work with Doctors without Borders.

The materials used in Nantucket Basket were tempered glass, scrapbook paper, glass gems, vitreous glass tiles, Noritake china (Primula Julian Hybrida Cheerleader Mixed) and marble tile.

Heart of Broomfield

The Broomfield Poster Days Contest of 2012 wanted a depiction of Broomfield history from the 50’s. Many years ago, a large neon heart sign marked the town’s only shopping center. The main park, Midway Park, is the location of the Broomfield Days celebration. Included in the piece are bees to honor the former “Honey House," the train to remember the Zang Spur, and Highway 36’s most honored dog, Shep. The foundation of the piece are people — who make Broomfield a great place to live.

Slice of July

The base was created from my beloved 80-year-old cottonwood tree that had to be taken down. The first piece looked so much like a watermelon that I couldn’t resist. One side celebrates the country’s birthday while the other side celebrates summer. The materials are vitreous tile, scrapbook paper, tempered glass and a huge fork!

Words to Live By

My everyday goal is to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Some days are better than others, but I keep on trying. When my grandson was in the hospital for 2 weeks, I spent a lot of time in the cafeteria and lobbies. I saw sick children from many nationalities. It was rewarding to see how everyone from staff to patients treated each other with respect and dignity. I created this piece for an art show held at Children’s Hospital. Although it did not sell, I decided to donate it to the place that inspired it. The hospital accepted the donation and it will hang in the behavioral sciences building. I am thrilled.  It was created from scrapbook paper, tempered glass, mirrors, vitreous tile, gemstones of varying sizes, and mirrored tiles.

Broomfield  Days

Poster Contest of 2013

In 2013, the contest wanted to honor Broomfield’s commitment to the arts. Each note depicts an aspect of the art and culture in the area from dance, music, theater and art.

Children's Hospital Mural

The Colorado Mosaic Artists group has for years donated a major project to a worthy non-profit as a means of "paying it forward," advancing the skills of its members, and promoting the mosaic art form with the general public. This mural was conceived early in 2014 and took over 8 months to complete. The final work includes a “Bubble Hunt" game designed to involve and distract children who are waiting for medical tests or procedures by asking them to visually search for playthings and other interesting items in the more than 150 individual works of art among the rainbow colors on the wall-sized mural.

My five circles were designed to give the viewers something to look at as well as to think about. The butterfly is from an earring that lost its mate.

The interactive game asks the viewer to find the birds of prey. This little owl came from a jewelry box I had in college.

What person doesn’t love a sweet? This is a refrigerator magnet made by my daughter back in the day.

This circle was to represent the Rocky Mountains and the reasons people came to Colorado — gold and silver for the miners and the beautiful fall colors in  autumn. The aspen leaf is from a broken necklace.

Besides eating sweets, I wanted the viewers to think about the crops that are grown in Colorado. The veggies are buttons!

These five circles are glued on the Wedi Board but not yet grouted.

See more...Art Mosaics and Commission Work .