Sarah Howarth and her Swansea House, 1876. See my blog for the family stories about this representation of my great-great-grandparents newly purchased house. This the first representative semi-realistic piece that I have made. it was a challenge, and could not have done it justice without the help of my structural engineer friend Sarah Lynch. It is made mostly of stained glass, and the stone wall is made of stones purchased and donated by a friend. Nana Sarah is made out of porcelain china and a bit of smalti and her hair is Apoxie Sculpt. I used translucent grout, my first attempt to was so easy and so gratifying (though is made a permanent mess on my kitchen counters- it was hard to see to clean up thoroughly!
This work was inspired by the repeated mass shootings in the United States, culminating in the racist Buffalo and Uvalde massacres in the summer of 2022. The 4th of July Highland Park, Chicago, sniper-style shooting that year was the ultimate inspiration for the American flag design. It has embedded symbols of the instruments of death and the targeted victims, and the potential long-term impact across the country. It is meant to be descriptive, not political.
See my Blog "The Cundiffs of Bedford VA" for a full description. Mexican and Italian Smalti, strata glass, red dog stone, slate, Apoxie Sculpt, Gilders Paste Wax, polymer clay photo transfer, 19th century chain fragment.
Dragonflies Transcend- 2020 This was created as part of memorial street installation for Karen Edlund who died in 2019. Karen was a colleague of mine since the 1970s, as our public health careers overlapped and I also knew her husband as my amazing divorce lawyer and carpenter, and through the zydeco/swing dancing crowd. Karen and I became friends in the last few years through mosaics, as she was a founding member and exhibit coordinator for the New England Mosaic Society. The memorial was organized by NEMS, and included 30 small mosaics on rocks placed on the street where she lived as she was well-known and loved.
Ball Mountain Brook, West Jamaica, Vermont.- 2017 6x6 inches. In my genealogy research, I discovered an 1860 map that identified the house of Alonzo Clough, my Grandma Blanche Cundiff’s father. He lived in a small village on this brook since about 1840 and my grandmother was born there. I’ve visited it twice and determined that this part of the meandering Ball Mountain Brook circled around where their house would have been. I imagined my grandmother playing in this brook in summer during the 1880s. It is now state conservation land and most of the houses are gone. I tried to make a large mosaic of this scene- I tried several substrates, took a course on mosaicing water, and made two samples to get the water right. This was my second sample- I wasn’t super satisfied with it but thought it captured the essence of that scene. It was made of stained, mirror and iodized glass, wire, stones, daisy millifiori and polymer clay for the birch trees.
Mother and Child- 2019 My friends at the Stone Store in Falmouth, MA, Kate and Susan have been very generous to me. They gave me five large buckets of slag and cullet glass, they find things I want like the clear agate slice for “the Arrival” and give me a welcome break on prices sometimes. So, when Kate asked if I’d make her a small mosaic that was an icon, I agreed though that kind of representational mosaic was not in my wheelhouse. She suggested the mother and child motif and with help from the internet created this little 4-inch mosaic that they display with a “not for sale” sign on the crystal table in their store.
Peering into the Night Sky- George’s mailbox- 2020 George’s cape house is on Mashnee Island, a tight knit community. There are mailboxes in two centrally located stands which have been deteriorating for decades. Someone started painting and decorating some, and this inspired me to make a mosaic for George’s. Doing his sailboat would have kept with the themes the others used, but that was pretty complicated so I went with a representation of his telescope dome and the night sky with the Big and Little Dippers.
What About Us?- 2019 This was a plaque I made to honor founder Dr. Roseanna Means on the 20th anniversary of Health Care Without Walls, where I was the COO at the time. It illustrates the lyrics of Pink's song “What About Us?”. An inspiring video of the women clients singing and dancing to that song was shown as part of the gala anniversary event. “We are searchlights, we can see in the dark We are rockets, pointed up at the stars We are billions of beautiful hearts And you sold us down the river too far” Roseanna started her non-profit HCWW to provide “concierge-like” health care to homeless women. She is a visionary and completely committed to creating services and policies to improve the lives and the futures of homeless women and their children. It hangs in her office. It is more like a collage than a mosaic, with satisfying creative moments like creating the Boston skyline and using iridized clear glass for the spotlights. The river is of blue lustre glass. It was a surprise that the iridized and lustre glass would photograph as pink, but it works because Pink!
Garden Reflections- 2020 My entire back yard is a spiral garden, and I enjoy adding unusual features like mirrors and mosaic sculptures to make it seem magical. I started using mirror glass and pool tiles in a geometrical pattern, but three quarters of the way through I got tired of that and added a band of stained-glass flowers modeled on a bouquet I had picked from my garden the prior summer. Fun and instructional, and it does make that corner of the garden sparkle. George designed and installed it so it wouldn’t fall over.
Black Madonna of Tindari and Oliveri- 2021 This is a work that has a special place in my collection, but not because it's a great mosaic. When George and I stayed at a kind and generous relative's condo in Oliveri, Sicily in 2018, I foraged for mosaic materials on the beach, in the alleys and streets, and on the live volcano Mt. Etna. I laid them out on a board in my studio and for three years contemplated how to use the floor tile scraps, bits of ceramic, sea glass and stone from the beach and the icon of the Black Madonna of Tindari in a coherent mosaic. With encouragement from Bonnie Fitzgerald and Rachel Davies on a BAMM work-along I gave it a go. There was also an upcoming deadline for a NEMS travel related virtual exhibition that motivated me. I finally cobbled this piece together, adding orange gold and blue smalti, travertine for the beach, stained glass for the distant mountains, slag glass for the Tindari mountain, and gilded ceramic pieces for the church. I am not thrilled with it so did not submit it anywhere except here as documentation of a fail! I enjoy it as a memory of that wonderful vacation.
Jewelry Tree- December 2020 Two friends gave me a bunch of pearls and assorted old jewelry in early December. I was compelled to build this 3-D tree and then gifted it to Bev Lewis who didn't want to put up her usual huge tree due to Covid because of the help she needed for that. This made her smile.
This is My Only Home- Mosaic Chair Planter- 2018 I created this chair mosaic for “Chairful Where You Sit,” an Arlington, MA, public art benefit June 7, 2019. The proscribed theme was “Sustainability- Flora and Fauna”. I am grateful for this inspiration and the deadline that pushed me to create this mosaic. I continued to fiddle with it for a year as I did not have time to complete it as it deserved before the day of the event. This chair planter is an impressionistic fantasy-ish creation of a Northeast suburban ecosystem using mostly upcycled materials. The name was taken from Dave Carter’s song “Gentle Arms of Eden”, a joyful song offering a catchy ode to evolution and the natural world. Many of Dave’s songs celebrated animals- the raven and the coyotes are a nod to Dave. It won three awards for this community event (best adherence to theme, from Arlington Dog group for honoring animals, and People’s Choice). This was my mosaic career highlight so far!
Blue Magic Iris table- 2020 (Chairful Where You Sit) In 2020 the chair theme for this fundraiser was broadened to include small pieces of furniture. I had a little plant table I had found at the Bourne Dump Swap Shop and fixed it up, including new feet made with Apoxie Sculpt. Since the theme that year was “hope,” I decided to mosaic irises which mean hope in the language of flowers. It is transparent glass on mirror, the first time I had done anything like this. It sold as an auction item raising one of the highest amounts - I was astounded someone paid $275 for it.
I make mosaic art that reflects my loves: and one of these is gardening for beauty, food and pollinators. 2021's Chairful Where You Sit theme was “Nurture Nature” was a perfect fit for me. This throne-like chair was discovered by a friend on the Facebook page “Everything is Free Arlington”- when she couldn’t use it she gave it to me for Chairful. It had led a long life and had been painted and reupholstered many times. Its back panel was perfect for a garden mosaic. This friend won the chair in the auction, so its found a good home.
Turquoise Maze Pendant. Turquoise cabochons, fused and stained glass, beads. My favorite.
Moon Pendant. Fresh water pearl, agate, bloodstone mountains and a kyanite sea. I wear it often.
These are mosaics I made to tell a story or for a specific purpose. They are gifts, donations for a fundraisers, or to honor someone or a place.