A stone-inlaid mosaic design displays the creativity of an artist in a in a side street wall in south Philadelphia.
Artistic Design
Tag Archives: mosaic
Artifacts at Chester Cathedral
Stone mosaics were on display inside Chester Cathedral, Chester, England.
The Chester Mystery Plays form a spectacular festival presented mainly by members of the local community under professional direction. Artist B J Elvgren’s charming focus on Chester Mystery Plays and the city itself made the tapestry a US national prize-winner before the Chester Mystery Plays company acquired it to present to Chester Cathedral in 1997, since when it has been seen by thousands of people.
Chester Cathedral Colorful Altar
A Salviati mosaic of The Last Supper from 1876 designed by J.R. Clayton decorates the high altar at Chester Cathedral, Chester, England.
Mosaic by the Door
There are mosaics of faces, or just a face, perhaps even an eye or mouth; birds, fishes, flowers, scriptural verse, clowns, nudes, poetry. At first glance the works might be mistaken as nothing more than an odd collection of a madman, until closer inspection reveals what they truly are, creative artwork. The more attention you pay, the more captivating they become. A side of Philadelphia that is obscured by all other tourist attractions.
Art and Flowers
A simple art mosaic on a side alley in Philadelphia is enhanced by flowers and even a small elephant statue on the left bottom corner.
Colorful Mosaics by Zagar
Isaiah Zagar is an award-winning mosaic mural artist whose work can be found on more than 200 public walls throughout the city of Philadelphia and around the world. These mosaics will never be confused with intricate medieval mosaics found in places like the Basilica of Notre Dame in Lyon, France, but they are captivating in their own right, not the least of which are the sheer volume and unusual compilation of materials. The mosaics are composed of tiles, mirrors, colorful glass bottles of every shape and size, ceramic coffee mugs, plates, silverware, bicycle tire rims, broken cookery, and a myriad of other items typically found at flea markets, antique shops or junkyards.
Decorative Walls
There are two styles of mosaics in Philadelphia: ornate, Italian-inspired work using small squares of colored glass called smalti, and the colorful works of Isaiah Zagar, the artist behind hundreds of Philly mosaic murals and Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. Mosaic artwork on walls by simple entrances are eye-catching indeed.
Mosaic Art in Philadelphia
Mosaic is a style of visual art that involves affixing many individual pieces of material called tesserae, typically glass or tile, to a surface to create an image. Unlike mosaics behind velvet ropes in museums, the scale and setting of these large-scale public works mean you can often get nose-to-nose with the art in the streets of south Philadelphia.
Faces in Mosaic
Ranging from meticulous works in the classic Italian style to the avant-garde sculptures of a countercultural artist and community advocate, Philly’s mosaics, quite literally, reflect its character — past and present. Any visit to Philadelphia could quickly turn into a treasure hunt for these jewels. Here are examples of large scale faces in mosaic art.
Philadelphia Street Art
There’s a softer side to the Philadelphia – City of Brotherly Love — and it can be seen in the innumerable pieces of gleaming glass that comprise Philly’s mosaic art scene. The sparkling, multicolored side of a rowhome will stop you in your tracks. Innumerable tiny mirrors — reflecting the light and surroundings — lay in brightly painted grout, creating large-scale faces and figures. Here is an otherwise nondescript alley in south Philadelphia with many decorative art pieces. We will be posting examples of such art.
Mosaic Mural on a Philadelphia Street
On a recent visit to Philadelphia, PA we saw amazing mosaic murals on the streets and side alleys in the south side of the city.
Eliza Kirkbride School has a mosaic mural that adorns the front of their school. Kirkbride students worked with COSACOSA art at large, Inc. to produce the mural, titled “Philadelphia: Love & Liberty.” COSACOSA is a non-profit organization that engages people of differing backgrounds to work together toward a common goal through participatory art-making.
The artwork celebrates both Philadelphia’s role in the founding of the nation and the hopes of its youth. Students investigated connections among the ideals expressed in our nation’s founding documents and immigrant stories from their families, their school, and their neighborhood. Kirkbride students represent more than 30 different ethnicities, and many are new immigrants.
Observing Nature – Art in the River
While flowing water in a river bed seems normal, if you observe closely the rocks and pebbles create nature’s mosaic
Old Car City – Mosaics in Broken Glass
Aging, broken, glass creates interesting mosaics on these vehicles at Old Car City, Georgia
Designs of Cloud Reflections in Water
A natural mosaic of sky and cloud reflections in water …
Designs of Cloud Reflections in Water
Saint Mark’s Basilica in Glass
A depiction of Saint Mark’s Basilica (Venice) is beautifully made up in a glass nicromosaic at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York.
This may be the largest Venetian micromosaic in existence. It measures five by seven feet, and it weighs one ton. As a rule, micromosaics are small works that emphasize detail; rarely do they exceed the size of a modest painting. This panel depicts Venice’s Piazza San Marco and its basilica. It provides an almost photographic record of the mosaic decoration on the basilica’s facade as it existed at the start of the 20th century. The panel is signed by the mosaicist E. Cerato, and it was on display in the store of the glass company Pauly & C. at the Piazza San Marco until the late 1950s. Developed in Italy during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the micromosaic technique made use of minute tesserae of colored glass that were arranged to create painterly effects. These tesserae were cut from thin opaque glass rods, of which there were more than 20,000 different tints.
Saint Mark’s Basilica in Glass
The zoomed in image shows the various pieces of glass that were used to make up this masterpiece
Saint Mark’s Basilica in Glass Detailed
Saint Mark’s Basilica in Glass Detail
Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass is a museum in Corning, New York dedicated to the art, history and science of glass. It contains over 40,000 objects representing 3,500 years of glass and glass-making from Egyptian to 20th century.
Corning Museum of Glass
This seems like a painting but is made of over 5,000 pieces of glass and is a mosaic masterpiece …
A Glass Masterpiece
A Color Mosaic of Leaves
A variety of colors creates a beautiful mosaic of nature …
A Color Mosaic of Leaves