Mosaic is an eminent art form that comes packed with an enormity of culture rich history. It is an art form which employs the use of small pieces of materials such as marble or other stones, glass, pottery, mirror or foil-backed glass and shells strategically and painstakingly placed together by hand to create a unified whole (picture/sculpture/decorative design).
This beautiful art form has been in existence since the second half of 2nd millennium BC and was first noted among the Mesopotamian culture. Perhaps by itself, it is a marker for the unity and mergence of cultures and civilization, because mosaic is found richly embedded in the artworks of the Christian, Jewish, Middles Eastern, and Islamic culture all around the world developing in style into what is today known as Modern Mosaic.
As we all know, mosaic involved the use of small pieces of material but it is more than just about arranging and fitting pieces together to form a picture. It is a very complicated science on its own with specific terminologies for each element of its make. Here’s some examples:
- Each little piece that make up the mosaic is termed a Tessera/abaciscus (or in plural: tesserae)
- The spaces in between where the grout (a construction material used for embedding) goes is called Interstices.
- Opus (…regulatum, tessellatum, vermiculatum, palladianum, sectile, classicum, circumactum) refers to the way each piece of Tessere is cut and placed. [Yes it is all in Latin]
- While Andamento is what describes the movement and flow of Tesserae.
There are 3 main techniques in used in the art of mosaic. They are:
- Direct Method which involves directly placing the individual tesserae onto the supporting surface.
- Indirect Method where the tesserae are first applied face-down onto a backing paper with an adhesive, before being transferred onto the permanent surface.
- Double Indirect Method where the tesserae are placed face-up on a medium (usually a one with an adhesive base) as it will appear when complete. Then a similar medium is placed atop it before the bottom layer is removed and it is applied to the permanent surface like in the indirect method.
So what has this all to do with being eco-friendly? To be honest, I would say lots because unless you are referring to tesserae which were specifically manufactured and shaped for the purpose of mosaic art ( think square little tiles that usually decorate swimming pools and bathrooms), mosaic is one of the most prominent forms of ‘sustainable art’.
You can apply mosaic art with just about any medium especially recycled, reusable, found bits such as broken pottery, glass, shells, stones, old buttons; pieces of metal, egg shells… The possibilities are endless and only limited by your imagination.
For the sceptics who don’t believe that you can create beautiful and useable mosaic items out of waste (or what normally qualifies as waste), I recommend you take a peek at Green Mosaics and for those with little kids at home, you can always get your child to develop his creativity and resourcefulness by getting him to do mosaic art with the everyday things you can find at home (egg shell mosaic art is really quite popular with the kids – they even make beautiful jewellery).
