Ciel Gallery Announces Mosaic Show Winners

Honorable Mention

Morning After, Gila Rayberg Florida

Gallery owner and mosaic artist Pam Goode contacted us this week with the winners from this year's Contemporary Mosaic Arts exhibit at Ciel Gallery, Charlotte North Carolina. The show runs from Friday September 3 through Friday October 15th.

This is the third year Ciel has mounted this international exhibit. The past two years were juried by Italian master mosaicist Guilio Menossi of Udine, Italy. This year, Pam asked JeanAnne Dabb of the University of Mary Washington, Virginia to make the selections.

Ms. Dabb is an Associate Professor of Art History and a former board member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists. She is a mosaic artist herself and, we can say from personal experience, one of the most knowledgeable and thoughtful people in the US contemporary mosaic scene. Her selections for Contemporary Mosaic Arts winners proves both points. Be sure to stick around for her Juror's Comments at the end of this post.

Best of Show

Concrete Wall by Jo Braun, Washington

Best of Show was awarded to Seattle artist Jo Braun for her work Concrete Wall, composed of salvaged porcelain, glass and pigment on a hand-formed cement base. "This piece explores the war between authoritarian forces of urban clean-up and rebel guerilla taggers," said Braun. "Pattern emerges, even from conflict."

Concrete Wall, detail

"My work emphasizes salvaged or recycled stone, porcelain, and glass, much of it garnered from builders and manufacturers who purport to be 'Green.' I hand cut these gleanings with Roman-era technology and recombine the pieces based on ancient Byzantine poetic grammar. Many still refer to this art form as 'mosaic,' and I do too, sometimes . . . until that category becomes too limiting. Then I say I create art from hard garbage."

Honorable Mention

Old Growth John Sollinger, Oregon

John Sollinger is a professor of Biology at Southern Oregon University who creates light-strewn landscapes with a strong impressionist bent from stained glass. Deliberately defying the mosaic rules of line and flow, Sollinger shoves his shards every which way but "right", creating what Goode describes as "an ultra-contemporary style."

Old Growth, detail

Says the artist, "(I work) without the benefit and burden of knowing the ways of mosaicists before me. I learned to see through the lens of biology and now I'm driven to express the patterns and wonders of wild places."

Honorable Mention

Morning After Gila Rayberg, Florida

Goode comments, "Gila Rayberg, a New Orleans saxophone player now living in Pensacola, brings her jazz roots to Morning After. Rendered in stained glass, this buzzing mosaic breaks with tradition through the use of a mirrored background Hence, both subject and viewer are reflected in the glass after a tough night." One can almost feel the buzz . . .

Honorable Mention

Impromptu in Blue Jacqueline Iskander, Oklahoma

Ms. Iskander's work is noteworthy for impeccable technique, elegant simplicity and excellent color blending. Impromptu in Blue is no exception. In this work, Iskander has married some of the most traditional of mosaic materials -- smalti, Moretti rod and unglazed ceramic -- with contemporary framing clips.

Impromptu in Blue, detail

The inspiration for this piece was a pool of waterlilies. The artist says that the framing clips supply a "rigidly fluid shape and add a lightness and gracefulness both contradictory and harmonious with the other materials."

Juror's Comments: "The works selected for this exhibition represent a number of qualities that I admire about mosaic art. In each case the work exhibits a mastery of techniques and sensitivity for the chosen materials and the best present unexpected combinations or effects that serve to reverse my preconceived notions. Works that convey meaning often do so in a non-literal manner and whether abstract or representational generate an immediate response or provoke further reflection The selections in varied styles represent different points of view regarding experience with the medium and each, in its own way, reflects a distinctive perception of the world and the art of mosaic." JeanAnne Dabb

"Innovation" appears to characterize the 26 piece exhibit. "Juror JeanAnne Dabb brought a strong focus on innovation to this show with an appreciation for mosaic in all forms and artists whose work pushed boundaries" said Goode. "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to show the public that mosaic art travels (and forges) a multitude of paths."

Just the facts, ma'am:

Gallery: Ciel Gallery and Mosaic Studio

Address: 1519 Camden Road, Charlotte, NC 28203

Exhibition: Contemporary Mosaic Art

Dates: September 3 through October 15

Hours: Tuesday - Friday 1:00 - 5:00; Saturday 11:00 - 5:00; First Fridays 6:00 - 9:00; by appointment

Receptions: September 3 and October 1 6:00 - 9:00 PM

Admission: Free

Website: www.cielcharlotte.com

Enjoy -- Nancie