The Chicago Mosaic School

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Last year artist Karen Ami was commissioned to create a globe for the Coolglobes project, an arts project that helps to being an awareness to global warming and solutions for the problem. Last years globe, titled "Windy City Andamento" was created at CMS with the help of several students and staff at the school. It went on to represent the project at Bill Clintons Foundation in New York and onto San Francisco to launch Coolglobes there. This year, Karen Ami was asked by Coolglobes to create a work sponsored by Toyota Corporation that would illustrate something that company is doing to help the environment. The theme of "Responsible Manufacturing" was chosen, illustrating factories producuing greenery, nature, flowers and plants. This globe took over 4 weeks to create with the assistance of artists Andryea Natkin, Sue Coombs, Laura Rendlen, Conrad Winke, and Martha Crandall. The globe, which is a fiberglass form, is covered in thousands of handcut, colorful ceramic tile. The globe will be on display through September at The United States Botanic Garden in Washington DC. For more information about Coolglobes, go to www.coolglobes.com

British artist Gary Drostle was in Chicago to teach a mural workshop for a week in October 2007. The students created a mural that will be installed at a Chicago Public Elementary school in a few weeks.

The design, created by Mr. Drostle, was feathers, a theme requested by Drummond Elementary . "Feathers represent the growth of the vital source of flight and independence, "said Mark Neidlinger, the principal at Drummond. He was thrilled at the prospect of having Gary Drostle's work installed at the school.

The students in the workshop learned how to fabricate two, long ceramic tile panels using the indirect technique ,using paper and paste. The panels will be installed over two entryways at Drummond Elementary.

The students left the workshop inspired and excited to create mosaics using this method. CMS made sure that "Mr. Fishpond" was able to take in an appropriate mixture of Chicago art, food, culture and fun during his stay here. We will be posting photos of the workshop soon on our website.

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This year at CMS we are proud to host some of the most interesting contemporary mosaic artists around. In April, Israeli artist Ilana Shafir will be teaching a 4 day workshop in her process of "Spontaneous Mosaic". Ms. Shafir is a world renowned painter and mosaic artist . Her work has been featured in many books and publications and has been included in several important international contemporary art exhibitions. At 83, she continues to be one of the most innovative and prolific mosaic artists of our time.

Shug Jones is part of Tesserae Studio, In Plano Texas. The studio is responsible for creating several incredible large scale pieces for public parks and residences around the United States. She brings her expertise in mosaic portraiture to CMS for a 4 day workshop in July.