MOSAIC MIRRORS

One morning in 2005 while walking on an Adelaide beach, I picked up a piece of Razor Fish shell and instantly saw it amongst pieces of mirror. Over the next few weeks I re-created the vision.

Paul, my partner, makes the backing boards. I cut and place all the mosaic pieces individually. When all the pieces have been placed, each single piece is then lifted and glued onto the board. Fine grout lines are a deliberate and integral part of each unique design. Creating mosaics in this way is a very time consuming process but the effect is stunning.

The first mirrors contained pieces of Razor Fish shell and Paua shell from New Zealand. Since then the works have incorporated various materials – small stones, whole shells, small pieces of glass and porcelain tile, stained glass and hand painted details on craft board coated with a tough resin which I have created.

Inspiration for the designs ranges from abstract colour and texture combinations, to landscape and more recently, interpretation of paintings by Gustav Klimt (1862 – 1918).

All my mosaic mirrors have been sold (Australia and overseas) and there have been several commissions along the way.

I love working with mirror. It is an extension of my fascination with light and space. The mirrored pieces take the viewer beyond the surface to become part of the artwork, at the same time, reflecting light back to them.

[I later realised I had incorporated squares of mirror in a pencil self-portrait in 1995 and in 1996 I created a darkly glazed ceramic vessel and filled it with water to create a mirror effect, again extending vision beyond the surface.]