Introduction
This article is an adaptation of a presentation given to the Australian Mosaic Association in Sydney May 2005.
Originally it felt a bit strange being asked to talk about “the creative process of a mosaic Artist” as I hadn’t really given the subject much thought before. I thought my creative process was pretty much get the idea – then make it – that’s how it works!
But when I started delving into it a bit, I realised that I do have patterns – and probably so do all artists. So I started talking with some other mosaic artists and digging a bit deeper and realised that we all seem to have patterns, but they were quite a bit different from artist to artist.
You hear of the artists that just start laying tiles wih no planning & create masterpieces, but I’m guessing they’re pretty rare & I certainly haven’t met any personally yet.
On the other end of the scale, some plan & prepare thoroughly for each project – but what I learned was, that everyone is different and there just isn’t a single magic formula.
So this article will focus on my own personal creative process with the hope that there’s something interesting or useful for everyone.
I should say, that most of what I’m going to write about is from the perspective of completing a mosaic commission – I feel that a client commission with a specific theme is probably the most challenging work – particularly if you don’t know much about the subject.
I suppose when you create an artwork for yourself or for sale, it usually comes from your own experience whereas with a commission, it might be necessary to broaden your experience on some subjects.
I’ll start by talking briefly about the creative process, and then show you a heap of photos with practical examples of how I’ve incorporated various ideas into my work.
5 Stages of the Creative Process
For me, creation of a mosaic atwork comes in 5 separate stages:-
1. Preparation & Infomation gathering
2. Incubation Period
3. Illumination of the idea
4. Verification of the idea
5. Manifestation of the idea (construction)
Of course, each project is different, but in general, this is how it tends to go for me.
I’ll talk about each stage separately on the following pages.
