Spring 2008 Newsletter Vol II

For All Eyes Only

"How Public Art Transforms the Heart and Soul"

Welcome to our Spring Edition! We would like to say Thank You to everyone who signed up to receive Artful News and to those who sent all those encouraging emails! We hope to bring you yet another interesting and inspirational read this time around. Thank you to all SAMA conference attendees at the 7th Annual American Mosaic Summit in Miami 2008 we appreciate your continued support.

In this edition we are going to hang out on the East Coast a bit. We are very excited to introduce you to wonderfully gifted and prolific mosaic artist based out of the DC area. We would also like to highlight a wonderful organization right out of our backyard, Philadelphia! They are making great strides in the advancement of public art and are responsible for Philly's moniker "City of Murals" recognized worldwide. Enjoy and please let us know what you think! newsletter@artfulcrafter.com.

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On Sale

Big Bisazza Blowout Sale

We are extending our huge Bisazza Blow Out Sale to Opus Romano! We need to make room for fabulous new tile coming soon!

Big Bisazza Blowout Sale

Also check out the Bisazza Eco Smalti on sale!

Bisazza Eco Smalti

What's New

Trow & Holden Mosaic Hammers

Art Scene

Mural Arts Program

Mural Arts Program

Transformation ~ Education ~ Inspiration www.muralarts.org

The city of Philadelphia is blessed to have an organization that works tirelessly to promote public art. It is an entity that is transforming a neighborhood a community an entire city, mural by mural.

The Mural Arts Program is responsible for close to 3000 murals throughout Philadelphia. It is a city with a heart and a bright light deep within. MAP is one of those lights. Please visit their website learn about what they are doing to help Transform a city, building by building and child by child.

There is a cool searchable database program here: Mural Arts Program Mural Database

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Featured Artist

Valerie Theberge

Valerie Theberge

mosaics & design www.valerietheberge.com

What makes any public art project work is the artist that brings it to life. I would like to introduce you to Valerie Theberge, she is an extremely talented professional artist who is very well versed in the realm of public art. When you peruse through her website you will see that she has an exceptional body of work that spans the globe, rich in design and precise in execution.

Valerie has been working as a professional mosaic artist for more than nine years. After graduating from the San Francisco Art Institute, where she majored in painting and drawing, Valerie moved to China to study the Chinese language and Chinese painting. She received a certificate in Chinese painting in 1992.

Her art career took her to Hong Kong where she trained with a British company and specialized in the ancient art of mosaics. While in Hong Kong Valerie studied Asian culture and obtained her Master's degree from the University of Hong Kong.

Valerie has worked on projects in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, India, Pakistan and the United States. She currently works in her studio located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

We are very pleased to present you two separate projects from her body of work.
Transformation

"Transformation"

Created for Prince George's County "Art in Public Places" it is 12.5 feet by 5.5 feet and is located in the County jail waiting room. There are approximately 20-30,000 visitors that use the waiting room annually. This piece took 400 hours to make plus 5 people worked an extra 100 hours to install it. It was created in four strips that seamlessly fitted together. It is made from glass tiles and copper. The circles in the piece are made from copper which was salvaged from the roof of a County Courthouse that burnt down. The copper roof was refurbished and made into small tiles that were shellacked to keep from oxidizing.

The fish in the piece represent Shad that are native to the area and through efforts of environmentalists are repopulating the rivers. The theme ÒTransformationÓ refers to the transformation of the copper, transformation of the rivers as they are cleaned up and repopulated by native fish and ultimately the ability of people to transform themselves.

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Composition

"Composition"

This piece was created for the exterior of the Brentwood Art Center in Maryland. It is 7 x 9 feet and made from stained glass, gold and mirror tiles, and vitreous glass.

I received a grant from The Community Foundation to create this mural. The grant allowed me creative freedom to start exploring designs that I was working on in my sketchbook. I wanted to create a mural that would express movement and the feeling of enthusiasm. It was a great opportunity to break out of traditional literal designs and work towards visually interpreting whimsy.

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