Making Mosaic art is to love “breaking up materials” in order to re-build them in a different manner. It is also to love working out composition, deliberating on the colors and textures available, and realizing the power and essential role of light in these works. With a vast assortment of colors and textures and the various heights of the stones, an endless array of aesthetic possibilities is provided. Uneven surfaces of mosaic tesserae create a vibrant effect, and color combinations create depth.

Why did I fall in love with mosaics?
I am very much attracted to collage, and this was one of my favorite hobbies as a teenager. I did dozens of colorful collages made with pictures from fashion and pop magazines. Collage has this quality of assemblage and combination of small images, and therefore I am not surprised that my artistic growth has led me to mosaics.

"Play is the exultation of the possible."
Martin Buber

Composition and Rhythm

Mosaic art involves assembling hundreds of pieces selected from a pool of source material and then crafting them to the desired shape.
As Israeli mosaic artist, Ilana Shafir comments: “The mosaic artist’s true work is to rummage around a vast sea of existing choices and find this one-of-a-kind piece that has unique properties... This dialogue with pieces and fragments brings the mosaic new meaning and artistic expression that was not there before. There is a real process of adding, changing and development within the mosaic artwork evolution.”

The gathering of colors and the choice of the mosaic pattern provide the work with rhythm. I use mainly the “Opus Palladianum” pattern or in colloquial language, “Crazy Paving”. It is about laying randomly-shaped tesserae so that they fit together. Why? Because this technique brings liveliness, playfulness and a depth which flat, symmetrical tiles do not achieve.

Color and Texture

I am passionate about color, and the broad palette of hues in mosaic art is part of its seduction for me. The vibrancy of color can lift one’s mood and instill joy in me and in the viewer.
I take my inspiration from the materials I have collected which include tesserae, vitreous glass tiles, ceramics, china, porcelain, and I look to harmonize or to contrast in order to create the effect and quality I am looking for.

External and internal discourse

Colours and textures are very meaningful in my life and they are also the two main ingredients in Mosaic Art. However, without light, this combination would be meaningless; there would be no dialogue between fragments and light.
 
Working in mosaics sharpens my vision. It is like an optical game.
There is a constant movement of the head going forward and backward, from close-up to faraway look, sometimes I need to blink or to open my eyes wide. My eyes dance with my artworks. I “taste” with my eyes, the eye is constantly awake while I work and while I contemplate the finished work. There is a constant movement of the eyes; I scrutinize and get into details and at the same time I look at the whole.
My ideas come as waves or impulses, but the execution will be slow and precise. I am transported by a burst of thoughts, and at the same time, the mosaic work brings me back to a well-thought pace. In mosaic, I cannot hurry. It is like a chess game.

Putting mosaic together is like weighing words and harmonizing sentences in a text. Sometimes I need to pause in order to re-balance the rhythm of my work, with moments of calmness.

The course of my development in life interests me greatly, and it reaches an expression in my work. 
Mosaics are very much “talking” to me, they are so expressive, they are playful and they respond to my inner self.

I sometimes empty myself from ideas or on the contrary, I include an enormous amount of information - the database of my life.
I have gathered over a lengthy period of time images and experiences from my voyages and cultural knowledge.
Through my work I try to find an expression for the course of my thoughts. I internalize an inner dream while I am in the process of creating a mosaic. My work is embodied with thoughts. I express them through symbols and the intriguing and complex assemblage of colours and textures.

When I experience something positive, my greatest joy is to share it with others. When I create, I aspire to be at the same time unaware and conscious.