Ceramics Books and Magazines

About 2,500 years ago, mosaic-making reached Europe and the Mediterranean area. There, mosaic-makers cut rocks into small, regular pieces, known as tesserae. Mosaics then worked in wall and ceiling murals.

In the 20th century, artists pioneered using ceramics, glass and rock in mixed-media mosaics. Glass had been used for about 2,200 years. It was easier to cut down than stone, into much smaller pieces. Many different colors of many small pieces gave spectacular lighting.

For 1,400-1,500 years, Ravenna, Italy has been the place for traditional mosaics, for churches. Nowadays, alternative designs and uses crop up. For example, Ellen Blakeley makes household items, mirrors, picture frames and tabletops, from the shattered safety glass of vandalized bus shelters and store windows. Such thick pieces often break inside. This gives stunning lighting and looks.

Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, with murals, and Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi, with buildings, set the standards for today's ceramic mosaic-makers. Gary Stephens joins them, with his sculptures made from colorful pottery and tile pieces. He grew up in an Arizona border town. He then went on to travel. So he brings together the simple directness of Mexican folk artists, with the brassy busyness of Thai mosaic-makers.

Thailand, with its temples, is also one of the countries where stone mosaic-makers are rightly proud of their works nowadays. Another is Portugal, with its pathways. Both influence Linda Beaumont's mosaic columns, floors, fountains and pavements.

One mixed-media mosaic-maker is Raymond Isidore. It took him almost 25 years to cover the outside of his house with thrown-out crockery and dishware pieces. His mosaic-making style is called pique assiette, or stolen from plates.

So THE ART OF MOSAIC DESIGN packs beautiful illustrations and clear wording into just the right space. Along the way, I picked up another favorite art style in Ilana Shafir's stained glass and mosaic. She mixes traditional and unexpected materials, such as seashells and natural stones. Her works beautifully catch light and move viewers skywards, as in her window for the Netzach Israel synagogue in Ashkelon.


An inspiring collection   December 18, 2002
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is an interesting, inspiring and beautifully presented book of work from mosaic artists around the world. There is so much variety in terms of style, technique, materials, and colour, and I very much like the fact that there are many photos of works in their entirety as well as pieces showing closeups of the same work in detail. There are generally between four and six pages for each artist, showcasing their work and talking a little bit about their artistic background, their technique used for certain pieces and their inspirations, all of which I found fascinating and brought me to a greater understanding of how the piece was created.

I admit that not everything in the book is to my own personal tastes: my preferences lean towards the more colourful. Among my favourite mosaicists in this collection are Erin Adams, whose compositions are based on intricately patterned oriental rugs; Gary Stephens, whose weird and wonderful designs feature brightly coloured fruit, fish, frogs, and ukelele-playing mermen (!); Linda Beaumont, especially for the assortment of objects she incorporates into mosaics; and Candace Bahouth, who I feel has a great eye for colour and shape. Nonetheless, there is a lot of creativity and enthusiasm evident in all the work in the book, whatever your tastes.

It also has possibly the best introduction I have ever read in a book about mosaic: "Mosaic design is a fascinating art based on paradoxes that must be embraced. Among these are the pieces, multiple objects of simplicity fused into a singular, complex wholeness; the irregularity that springs from deliberation; and, more often than not, the creation that is wrought from destruction. Such paradoxes are put into context by the mosaicist when the principles of other visual arts are applied. By shaping tesserae like a sculptor, choosing colors like a painter, and weaving patterns like a fiber artist, the mosaicist presents his or her vision."

What a wonderful way to introduce what mosaic is all about! I also feel that there is just the right balance between text and photographs - enough to enhance understanding, but not so much as to detract from the art itself. I recommend this book to all lovers of art, not just of mosaic.


NOT Cutesy!   April 27, 2002
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book convinced me of the serious nature of new mosaic work being done around the world. This book made me want to be a mosaic artist!


WONDERFUL, COFFETABLE BOOK!   April 5, 2002
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

NOT ONLY IS THIS BOOK A EXCELLENT VIEW OF MANY UNIQUE ARTISTS BUT IT'S FORMAT IS BEAUTIFULlY LAYED OUT. A GREAT BOOK FOR AN UNBELIEVABLE PRICE!


A stunningly impressive, full-color artbook   March 21, 2002
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The Art Of Mosaic Design: A Collection Of Contemporary Artists by JoAnn Loctove and Leslie Plummer Clagett is a stunningly impressive, full-color artbook filled with photographs of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional mosaic works by forty-two bright, talented, and inspirational modern artists drawn from the U.S., Italy, England, Norway, France, Israel, and Japan. Amazing arrays of color, design, theme, and texture abound in this vibrant modern artbook make The Art Of Mosaic Design strongly recommended addition to any personal or art school reference library collection.