Mosaic Art
Mosaic is essentially a decorative art in creating pictures and patterns using small colored piece of glass, marble, or other materials on a base of cement, plaster, or adhesive. Often used as an interior or exterior decoration originally from Greece, mosaics were mainly employed by Roman craftsmen in the form of pavements. Later into the era of Byzantine art, artists began specializing in mosaic designs for walls. Byzantium was renowned for reflective masterpieces of gold and multi-colored glass. As mosaic was widely used as an ornamental Christian art, it was superseded by fresco painting during the times of the Renaissance.
The earliest known mosaics were created using pebbles, dating back to the 8th century BCE. This pebble technique, used for both pavements and walls, as later redefined by the Greek craftsmen in the 5th century. They were intricately able to make designs using pebbles between one or two centimeters in diameter. Outlines were created with small black pebbles. By the 4th century, colored stones in red and green were added to create better variety. This helped Greek artists to make geometric patterns, as well as detailed scenes of people and animals.
A revival of sorts occurred during the 19th century where several public buildings were found with mosaics decorated using ceramic tiles or glass. Certain designs and their styles, such as Gothic Revival and Art Nouveau provided new designs and usages for the art form.
2,000 Year Old Mosaic in Zeugma, Turkey
Mosaic Featured in Westminster Cathedral, England
Mosaics can be made in modern day using computer-aided design, or CAD software. This kind of program can be used by individuals or by robotic manufacturing systems. In order to hasten the mosaic making process and eliminate errors and reduce costs, mosaics are preferred by some to be made by hand. In this way, production can be made 10x faster with significantly fewer errors. Today, mosaic remains to be a popular craft amongst many, promoted by organizations like British Association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM) and The Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA), and available as a major subject in some of the best art school featured in America and Europe.
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