S.A. Schimmel creates striking portraits not with paint but with junk in the form of flyers, mail, greeting cards and colorful ephemera. The artist, who graduated with a degree in psychology and painting, has a diverse art career, ranging from visual display designer to needlepoint canvas designer. Her current junk art mosaic work stemmed from a visit to Venice:
“I saw a beautiful stained glass portrait of a woman in Venice, Italy,” she writes. “Created by a true artisan – of tiny glass tiles in an amazing array of colors. The tiles applied to a sheet of glass, sealed with grout, framed in metal, suspended in front of a light box, glowing. It was too expensive to buy, too heavy to carry – my conclusion: ‘I have to make that!’ Well, I tried.”
“I could not find the colors or sizes in glass. I tried painting glass…no success. I tried ceramic. Too bulky, not enough color. I … started cutting up accumulated junk mail. Eureka! I got what I was looking for – a portrait in mosaic using an insanely diverse variety of materials.”
View a gallery of her work at schimmelart.com.
[tags]junk mail, mosaic, stained glass, portrait[/tags]
The style of writing is very familiar to me. Have you written guest posts for other bloggers?