in early september, i was officially awarded the montereau chapel mosaic. montereau is an upscale retirement community here in tulsa, ok, currently in phase II of its development. part of phase II is the addition of a chapel, which will include an 8' x 7.5' mosaic with a cross.

this project, currently in progress, is moving along nicely. i have finished the cross and gold circle, and will begin work on the arch. below, you can see the preliminary design, and 2 images of the the cross and gold circle. the 2nd image shows the textured surface of the cross.

the public project for northeastern oklahoma agricultural and mechanical college, which was managed by oklahoma art in public places, was installed on time with absolutely no complications. although a bit of an ordeal, considering the height at which the 100 lb. panels were to be installed, everything went according to plan.

below, the first 2 images are of daytime; the next 2 images are of dreamtime; the last image is me with Dr. Jeff Hale, the president of the college.

about 3 weeks ago, i reached the halfway point on this project when i completed the 2nd panel of the first diptych. now, the 3rd and 4th panels are well underway. the veins/branches and red sun have been installed, the green element, which is primarily on the bottom panel but extends into the blue element on the top panel, is also complete. as well, the green element sections for the bottom panel have been installed and edged with chipped porcelain.

today, i start mosaicking the blue element of the top panel. i am hoping to finish the blue in 2-3 weeks, or before i leave for europe on may 6. hopefully, when i return from europe, i will have only the backgrounds to complete. with an august 15 installation estimate, i will have about 6 weeks for those backgrounds.

as for the europe trip, i will be attending italian language school in sorrento for 2 weeks, then traveling to udine for a month of mosaic school with maestro menossi, and finishing up my travel with about 10 days in serbia visiting my mosaic friend, andjelka. whew! a big trip!

you can see more photos and details on this project by visiting my oaipp project portfolio.

in early november, i was officially awared the oklahoma art in public places (oaipp) project for northeastern oklahoma a & m college (neo). the project is very big... 58 sq. ft. of mosaic art to fill 2 spaces above a double-sided fireplace in the newly renovated student union.

i started work around mid-late november and as of today, i am about 2 weeks away from the halfway point. you can find out more about the project and follow my progress in oaipp project in my portfolios.

and here is the link: oaipp project

maestro giulio menossi, in collaboration with pam givens, has opened the mosaico - scuola menossi. i consider myself fortunate to know both giulio and pam, and to be involved in the fledgling school. i created a logo for the school website, and also a logo for some print materials. then, i got to create the print materials... a tri-fold brochure and a postcard. recently, i put together a one-page web flyer.

i enjoy this kind of creativity... laying out, organizing, etc.... faster than mosaic art, that's for sure... so instant gratification i suppose.

just explaining where some of my time and energy has been going... when it isn't going to family or italian. i am also working on a very exciting project with maestro menossi, but i won't say what it is yet. it is in its very earliest stages, and i won't have anything to announce about it until sometime next year.

this is all very exciting stuff, and i feel like it is worth doing... over my own personal mosaic work... for now. i still have a little time for mosaic work, but it is not the priority that is has been, and that i know it will be again... next year. its interesting.... although i have made the decision and commitment to ease off of my mosaic work, and though i feel that this is the right decision for me at this time, i do still miss my work... i miss building and handling and planning and the whole process.

i wonder why it has to be so complicated sometimes... to be a human being... or maybe just to be me. i want to do so much... and sometimes i want to be doing the very thing that i am not doing... but i also want to keep doing what i am doing... and MORE! ugh...

that's it for now... back to my italian...