Repurposing used materials is a popular trend in art. Old, beat-up signs, weathered barn wood, magazine clippings, and repurposed jewelry are among the plethora of items to be found in the art of contemporary galleries and on trendy home walls. You can see it in gardens with soup cans becoming flower pots and wooden palettes becoming compost bins and in dumpster bound clothing and scarves turned into new, fashionable accessories.
Up-cycling in art is a lovely thing. It is fun, it is an economic benefit to the “starving artist,” and it’s an environmental gift for those who benefit now and in the future. Everybody wins, right?
It’s a style of creation a ceramic and mosaic artist by the name of Teresa Campbell has been practicing for decades. This multi-dimensional artist creates mosaics from California to Alabama and enjoys using found items and reclaimed materials along with handmade tiles and original ceramic pieces.
The photo at right displays a recent piece near to the artist’s heart. “This is a mosaic inspired by pictures of Puget Sound, where my daughter accepted a proposal of marriage from her husband-to-be”, says Teresa, a California transplant now living in Nashville, Tennessee. “This mosaic is built on cabinet grade plywood from a carpenter friend’s scrap pile. Much of the glass I inherited from a tile maker who decided to get out of the stained glass business.”
For me it is amazing to think a large percentage of what you see here was headed for the dump.
Another mosaic project popular with the artist is the use of lost heirloom treasures. This table was created using a broken set of antique Wedgwood dishes the owner couldn’t bear to part with. Accent tiles were selected to enhance the composition, and the shards have a new life as an adornment to three, now amazing, accent tables.
Walls and floors offer great surface options for a mosaic installation but this artist will put a mosaic anywhere! Kitchen backsplash murals are an inspired addition to the home, as is a shower mural or floor entryway.
This stunning sunset mural mosaic shows a beautiful outdoor fireplace installation in a private home in California.
Stepping stones with mosaic tops and bits of mosaic inserted into natural spots in rock make for a lovely surprise in the garden. You can have just a touch or grace an entire wall or floor.
Mosaics have been a part of society since man’s earliest civilization as their beauty is mesmerizing and timeless. And with the addition of up-cycling in art, adding mosaic work to your home is a way to gift yourself, the artist, and the environment.
With this artist’s eye for color and design, her technical ability, and a keen awareness of sustainability, Mosaics by TLC will provide art that you can be proud of both aesthetically and conscientiously.