About Us
The Chicago Mosaic School answers the need for education in an arts field where artists often learn by trial and error, and are hungry for expertise and knowledge. The first and only academic based, nonprofit Mosaic Arts School in the United States, CMS fills the void in mosaic arts education.
The range of work created by today's mosaic artists is vast, from soaring sculptural mosaics utilizing advanced architectural techniques to the intricate details in micromosaics that are assembled with the use of a magnifying lens and tweezers. What they possess in common is the interweaving of units or pieces of materials to produce the completed whole. Even the material in use by contemporary mosaic artists shows the diversity of this art form. Contemporary mosaic artists use a variety of materials in theirs works, including vitreous glass tile, smalti, handmade ceramic tile, porcelain, marble, and stone, among many.
The Chicago Mosaic School offers courses utilizing all approaches in design and construction of fine art and architectural mosaics, for beginning through advanced levels of study. Some of the courses offered are: Architectural Mosaics, 8 week Multi Level Mosaics, Glass on Glass, Classical Mosaic Reproduction, Italian Smalti Intensive, Sculptural Forms and more. New courses will be added every semester as our school and curriculum grows. All courses are structured to address the individual student and their specific goals and projects.
The Faculty of The Chicago Mosaic School are professional, exhibiting mosaic artists with degrees in fine arts. Our faculty is educated in all areas of mosaics, from mosaic design to architectural installation. For more information about our faculty, please see the Faculty and Staff page link.
The Founder and Executive Director of The Chicago Mosaic School is Karen Ami, an award winning classically trained sculptor and mosaic artist. Some examples of Ami's public mosaic works can be seen at Navy Pier, Lakeview High School, The Knapp Children's Center, and Anshe Emet Synagogue. She has work exhibited in museums and galleries in the United States and abroad. Ms. Ami holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Master in Mosaics from The Orsoni Scuolo Mosaici in Venice, Italy, and a BFA from the Boston Museum School and Tufts University. She is on the Board of The Society of American Mosaic Artists, a member of The British Association of Modern Mosaics, and of The Tile Heritage Foundation.