Recent Works — Linda Cundiff Mosaics

My life long connection to and obsession with the color blue drove me to create this abstract with all the blues speaking with each other. About half of the materials are recycled glass and ceramic, much of it from sea glass and recycled glass that an anonymous collector foraged from the beaches and near defunct glass factories on Cape Cod. Making that old glass beautiful and part of my art has been a great joy.

The glass balls are called “knock-offs”- called that because they were used in the manufacture of glass vessels as “legs” which were later knocked off.

No title (yet) but see my (first) blog "My Creative Sources"

These two companion pieces were inspired by the subtle colors of the rocky Mashnee beach, a Cape Cod island, where I have collected rocks for many years. The yellow gold tesserae are from rocks foraged on New England farms by artisans; they are remnants of the sparkling trivets and bread boards they make from slices of ordinary looking rocks. 10X15”, Foraged stone and rocks, slate, slate substrate

Desert Pathways Colors of the southwest. 9x12; Stone: chrysocolla, apatite Glass: Italian and Mexican smalti, hand pulled filati, painted glass Ceramic: dishes, handmade bowl, Briare Copper tubing and wire Tinted mortar

I foraged these rocks and shells in over a decade of summers at the isolated Mashnee Island beach, Cape Cod. I processed them with a hand sledge, a hammer and hardy, a ring saw and an application of sealer. This mosaic of these in a Venn diagram reveals the complex colors and textures, with blue Mexican smalti as the tides. The andamento is arranged to reflect the shifting by the tides and storms.

11x11”; Rocks and shells; The routed triple Venn barn wood frame was designed and produced by Rachel Sager.

“Venn Meditation on my Evolving Hair Color,” or, “Going Gray During the Pandemic.” 2021 Inspired by Rachel Sager as she has a lot of my work lately. Gold smalti, luster glass, Apoxie Sculpt, brass and aluminum wire and broken belts from an old rock tumbler, on blue slate.

Blue dusk, Red Sunset 2021 (Available) Defaced ceramic tiles and dishes, Gilders Paste Wax, hand-pulled filati. 6 x 8.5

Fibonacci Blue Spiral 2021 Defaced ceramic tiles, hand-pulled filati. 6 x 9

Bed of Nails 2021 Mixed media: rusted 19th century nail cluster, Italian smalti, hand pulled filati, blown glass, slate. 9x9.5 Sold.

Blue Light Rising 2021 Stones: New England field stone, The color blue has always had a dominant/obsessive place in my life and artistic sensibility since my childhood. This work shows the power of blueness rising in a fantasy trip through outer space. Pennsylvania shale and red dog, slate, pyrite. Mexican Smalti, 24C gold smalti, lustre and mirror glass, hand pulled filati, fresh water pearls. 12" x 16"

Mashnee Peace-2018 Mashnee is a beach on a Cape Cod island where I often walk for peace and inspiration. For years I walked the beach, collecting. Moved by the tides and storms, the ribbon formations of fresh white shells, black dried seaweed, and brownish-pink rocks and sand changed with the seasons. I would kayak in the shallows between the larger rocks with their veils of seaweed, fascinated by the colors and textures under the clear shallow water. Tesserae were cut from local beach rocks, cemented to a backer with smooth beach and ocean colored cement. The seaweed is tarnished scouring pad, the vegetation is humidifier filter soaked in green colored cement. The sea is made of mussel shells and many two to three-inch blades of light-blue kyanite.

Akhenaton vs Einstein-2018 (named by George) I really wanted to use the gorgeous piece of labradorite and the glass findings I got from the Things we Love shop, and the moss agate from the Stone Store. The slate was from my yard- pieces that broke when we replaced the slate patio. George thought that it looked like the heads of Akhenaton and Einstein having a conversation so I went with that. Labradorite, slate, field stone, moss agate, glass.

Landscapes of the Heart- 2020 Glass (smalti, stained, slag, cullet and my grandmother’s candy dish), porcelain, bloodstone, chrysocollas, New England fieldstone, slate and Marcellus shale.

Landscapes of the Heart- 2020 Glass (smalti, stained, slag, cullet and my grandmother’s candy dish), porcelain, bloodstone, chrysocollas, New England fieldstone, slate and Marcellus shale. I had started a second pal tiya 3D heart form for the Heart project in 2019, but didn’t get inspired till Valentine’s Day and I was yearning to make some small glittery red thing. I saw the half-built heart, my grandmother’s red and crystal broken candy dish pieces, and a slice of bloodstone that was shaped like a biological heart. I was off! I created “design-as-I-go” landscapes with arteries as paths through magical forests/fascia, mountains, fields, sunsets and a rough icy ocean. The stand was made by Jean-François Louis with assists from George.

Twilight- a 3D heart- 2019 (rear)

Twilight- a 3D heart- 2019 (front) This heart was created for a NEMS project for Art in the Orchard, a biennial sculpture show at a farm and farm stand in Easthampton, MA. Laurie Frazer had exhibited in it before, and had the concept of building a “Field of Hearts” with many various hearts displayed.

Field of Hearts Installation with Twilight- a 3D heart- 2019

17.a Lollypop Tree- 2016 This was from a photo I took of a sunrise from the bathroom in George’s house in Mashnee. This piece hangs in that bathroom. George called that tree the “lollypop tree” and he cut it down shortly after I made this mosaic. The tree blocked his telescope from a full view of the sky. I learned this "painterly" style from Laura Rendlin, and use these techniques in other pieces too.

Collaborative Mosaic with Betsy Rodman: Origin and Pattern Confluence- 2020 Made of Japanese porcelain, Briare tiles, stained glass, ceramic, cullet glass, and jasper. I tried to build on the flow of her design, using some of the same materials and design elements. She used a lot of Japanese porcelain, some were long ago gifts from me (though she forgot that’s where they came from!), and I had some too. It took a long time to collect and prepare the tesserae, and weeks of moving things around. I took periodic photos to take a big picture look and ended up changing it many times. By the end I was satisfied that I had made something that continued the confluent design she had started. And she was pleased, too!

Pattern Confluence First half mosaiced by Betsy: Japanese porcelain, Briare tiles, stained glass, ceramic This was a collaborative project of the New England Mosaic Society for an online exhibit. We were to pick a partner and we would each complete the other half of a mosaic the other had started. My co-collaborator, Betsy Rodman, and I each started the same size mosaic and the only other design element we agreed on up front was no grout.

Origin First half mosaiced by me: Lapis lazuli, jasper, smalti, red dog, porcelain, copper wire, mirror glass.

Origin First half mosaiced by me: Lapis lazuli, jasper, smalti, red dog, porcelain, copper wire, mirror glass. Final version completed by Betsey Rodman: Lapis lazuli, jasper, smalti, red dog, porcelain, copper wire, stained, mirror and slag glass, marble, fossil, ceramic. I found this to be a challenging yet compelling project. I used materials and techniques I was eager to use like intuitive andamento using rocks and smalti, and color theory. We both felt we learned a lot from this project. By building on the style and design of the other we could stretch ourselves and create something we would not have done alone.

There’s a Way Out- 2016 Made during a time of painful transition for me, this complex mosaic has interwoven spiral mazes with multiple possible routes to follow. It is three dimensional and was designed to be traced with fingers, as one would with a classical meditative labyrinth. The paths lead to each other in sections of the mosaic that are dark and sad, or complicated and light filled, and sometimes the path is not clear, or one could get stuck. Just like life. Dragon and damselflies symbolize growth and rebirth to me. Are the dragonflies trapped or have they reached their destination?

Ode to a Damselfly- 2016 This one is also from the dark period when I was trying to find a way out of the negativity around my departure from my 38 year career in community health services. There is a dark gray dragonfly threatening a delicate damselfly caught in a cage. I had all the materials sitting around, including the frame, and it just miraculously flowed together. Ceramic, tempered glass, mirror glass tiles, polymer clay, beads, pewter dragonfly.

Frankie the Naughty Pumpkin-2018 This is the first piece I made in my new basement studio in the fall of 2018. It was October and I decided to make a Halloween pumpkin as I experimented with Pal Tiya, a new clay/cement modeling compound. My goal was to make a lovely blingy pumpkin for fall decorating, a replacement for all the Halloween decorating I used to do. This pumpkin wouldn’t cooperate with that vision. It seemed to have a mind of its own, insisting on not letting me do optimal tile placements, and on a goofy face of fused glass pieces. He’s a harmless spirit that makes me roll my eyes and chuckle. Its name, Frankie, was inspired by my mischievous, diminutive, and much-loved Grandpa Frank. (Accepted to the Arlington Arts Council “Superstitious” exhibit in 2019.)

Blue Wreath- 2017 This was inspired by the incredible amount of blue pottery that I had collected and cut into tesserae from plates and bowls. I still have a lot left so may make another one someday. It can’t stay outside in winter because of the poor quality of some of the plates I used as they can’t take fluctuating temperatures and moisture.

This is a happy tree festooned with fluffy snow and a pair of ceramic white doves. All of the elements have texture and shape. The base is carved two-inch soft packing foam, covered in green cement and mosaiced with ceramic and glass tesserae and fresh water pearls.

Fantasy Garden- 2018 I wanted this to represent my actual back yard garden in Arlington. The viewed is from the upstairs window, and is in the style of Laura Rendlin. It does a pretty good job of that, but my attempt at the vegetation is pretty primitive. It represents a view from the back upstairs window. This mosaic brings the outdoors to my basement bathroom.

Homage to Home- 2014 A handmade birdhouse (made for the children of Mashnee to decorate, from wood from the demolished club house). It is mosaiced with broken china, dichroic, iridescent and mirror tiles and stone tiles. It is the first piece accepted into a NEMS show which was installed at the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington. What an eye opener it was to see all the professional mosaics.

Homage to Home- 2014 All four sides.

Each piece has a story. Each tile has a purpose.

Early work