Roses Return
2018
Gila Rayberg
Pensacola, FL, USA
19 x 13 x 0.5 inches
smalti, gold smalti, tempered glass, dinnerware, black stone, fiberglass & tinted mortar
Over the past decade I’ve been increasingly captivated by portraiture. My most recent mosaic portraits combine a wide variety of materials, including dishes and other ‘memory-wares”, along side more traditional mosaic materials. The curves, rims, handles and other characteristically round shaped crockery shards, often become “the bones” within my portrait figures. A teacup handle may become an ear, or a strand of hair; the lip of a cup, an eyelid. I love those ‘aha’ moments when I discover a perfect shard; pondering the memory of where it came from, who gave it to me, and any other significance it may hold. The ever changing combinations of disparate elements come together to tell a new story, keeping my mind active and challenged, while the cutting and placing of each piece, keeps me physically engaged. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing, all else falls to the wayside.
Roses Return is #58 in of an ongoing series of living artists’ portraits created in conjunction with Julia Kay’s Portrait Party.