Guest Judge: Josephine Alexander
... and the winners are...
Thank you to Tiny Tiles Mosaics for giving the "Best in Show" winner a gift certificate to their very cool shop! Check them out for
some of the world's smallest tiles!

First Place, Juror's Choice
31 by 69 cm, mainly glass on glass with some beads and
tiles and glittery bits thrown in.
From our Juror:
Lightning Goddess When I was child in South Carolina I was
sitting in my room watching a violent thunderstorm
approach. Our neighbor ran outside to collect her clothes
from the line. In those days, the lines and poles were made
of metal. She was struck by the lightning as I watched.
Blessedly, she survived, virtually unscathed. I often thought
she had a powerful connection with nature. The wild hair of
the Lightning Goddess, the swirling and utterly powerful
blues in the sky transport me back in time. Looking at it, I felt
as I, myself, had been struck... and survived! This mosaic at
once unnerved me and reassured me that the Force of
Nature is just what it needs to be. Beyond that, I love the
tension created by the hot colors surrounded by the cool
colors.
People's Choice Vote
Alice Garret, Contrast

24x24. Materials used: hand cut vintage plates, beads, glass,
ceramic, smalti, mirror, and found objects.
If you look close, a few images of nature can be found in this
abstract (leaves and flowers in the china patterns). I really
wanted to explore the contrast in nature. The use of color vs.
black and white; lined background vs. free form background.
Like nature, there is a certain level of predictability and
order.........yet not.
Thank you to all who participated and voted!











Guest Judge: Kirstin Jonas
Our theme for this challenge was Your Favorite Piece of Art. Each work was to be inspired by any work of art that you love... the entire piece, a section of the piece, the colors of a piece... anything!

Peace Dove by Inez of Laura Leon Mosaics



Hundertwasser Inspired, by Alice Garret


When I was very small, we once went to the local art gallery. Among many other works of art there was one of Yves Klein's blue canvases on display. My mom stood in front of it, and I remember asking her "Why are you staring at this? Its just blue. Its stupid!" My opinion hasn't changed all that much in the meantime... but here's the thing: That's the only piece of art I remember from that outing! The only one! And what's more, I certainly like making monochrome mosaics, this isn't the first one I've made by a long shot.

Guest Judge: Dianne Sonnenberg
Thank you to Tiny Tiles Mosaics for giving the "Best in Show" winner a gift certificate to their very cool shop! Check them out for some of the world's smallest tiles!



Thank you again everyone who participated & who voted! There were 299 votes over the past week!.. with votes spread quite evenly across the board. Only a couple of votes separated the artists! Please continue scrolling to read the wonderful comments our Juror had to say about the entries.
Three Sisters, by Tina Shoys
The theme of your mosaic is lovely, and I enjoy the movement and beauty you created in the floating spirals, the semi-monochromatic background, and the skirts and hair of the sisters. You created a strong feeling of place. Nice work!


Joe Slacker, by Patti Cadwallader
What a whimsical creation! Great work with the sculpture. Creating realistic shapes in sculpting clay is harder than it looks. You created very realistic dimensions especially with the spiraling shell . Your use of beads and mirror as tesserae is very effective in enhancing the spiral of the snail's shell.



Jay Flight, by Amanda Edwards
This is such a well-conceived design, full of meaning and beauty. Your detail work is exquisite. The use of spirals in the yellow background and in the design of the skirt enhanced the meanings beautifully. To create all of that on such a small scale takes talent! I like everything about this mosaic. Very, very well done!

Stained Glass, Tiles, and Beads. Measures 12"x8".


The Mad Hatter's Teapot, by Frances Green
I would be very happy to drink tea out of this teapot, and am delighted that you will be able to enjoy it every day. I think the pink grout really enhances the colors. Excellent choice, as it wasn't necessarily the obvious selection. I love how you created the spirals with beads to enhance the movement. This is such a beautiful piece, made even more special because it is functional.
I See Spirals, by Alice Garrett
Your design and expert use of mixed media materials created a very successful mosaic. My eye dances around this piece, and finds delightful surprises that were not immediately obvious. I love how you cut the china pieces to flow so beautifully around the spirals. This takes quite a bit of skill! Your color palette is beautiful, and by including some unexpected choices, you made the mosaic even more interesting and appealing. This is the mosaic I keep coming back to look at again and again. Congratulations, Alice!


Escher Spirals Served on a Dish, by Inez Verhagen of Laura Leon Mosaics
Beautiful design! You did an excellent job of creating and executing this design. It is not easy to do! I love the way my eyes follow the swirls from top to bottom and back again. Very nice job with your grout lines, too. That really enhances the overall effect when your edges are straight and clean. Great job!
Blue Spiral Mosaic, by Dawn Briskey
Your materials are exquisite, and I can imagine how wonderful the play of light is with this piece. I would love to see and enjoy it in person. Beautiful use of the spiral in your design. They dance as your eye moves across the mosaic. Very nice!



You have achieved some beautiful detail in this piece, and it really works well with the overall effect. The color palette is unexpected, and works very well to create a mosaic full of lovely warm and cool contrast. Nice balance in the design, and very good use of spirals to create movement!
Portraits, a Juried Art Contest
Guest Judge Dianne Higgins
This was a great & challenging theme! The PieceMaker artists are many things, but most of us have little to no experience creating a portrait of any kind. For most in this show it was their first ever portrait! As always, the entries are all so special & unique... so I wish you all luck choosing a favorite! You have one week to vote for the people's choice winner. We're so excited about our Juror for Best in Show, Dianne Higgins. Dianne is an amazing mosaic portrait artist, among other things. Since 2013, she has created over 30 portraits!

Check them out for some of the world's smallest tiles!
The Boxer, by Peggy Lindstrom
From our Juror, Dianne Higgins: Wow, this is a really terrific animal portrait! I love the way you have cut the glass in different ways and shapes to create a very proud and oh-so-expressive dog! You have created the mask and mottled part of the skin in a very realistic, but also stylised way. The background is interesting but unobtrusive and makes a lovely frame for the dog. In my mind, you have created this dog with love in your heart, and that is one of the things I look for in a portrait….something that connects me emotionally with the subject. I can see that love with every single piece of glass you have applied. You have also blended the colours of the grout in with the colours of the glass, which to me is important if you are aiming for a realistic portrait and not just a stylised one. This portrait demonstrates lovely fine details, and a variety of colours to suggest the browns and whites. This is really a very impressive and delightful portrait.
Second Place, A Portrait of a Childhood Daydream, by Amanda Edwards
Marilyn, by Sandy Stotz

Luci, by Dawn Briskey

Portrait of the artist as a green person, by Frances Green
Marilyn, by Sandy Stotz


Portrait of a Boxer, by Peggy Lindstrom
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Love is a Four-Legged Word, by Pam Holt

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![]() Thrift store wooden shelf, mirror, china, jewelry,
fused glass medallion, Kismet mosaic tiles, Czech glass bugle beads,
ball chain, light purple grout.
Approximately 13" wide, 5" high, 4.5" deep. ![]() |
Size is 10 x 8" Plywood substrate using a hand-painted porcelain Art Collector's plate depicting Romeo and Juliet found in a thrift shop. I also used cobalt stained glass, and Pool blue vitreous glass tiles around the border. |
Entry 3 Birdhouse Gourd, by Chris Carey ![]() Size 13 inches tall 8 inches wide.
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![]() I thought about this challenge for a long time. I wanted to make about
50 entries! Finally, I thought about the love people show, when they
take homeless animals into their homes, and show them the kind of love
that helps them feel safe; and the kind of love those animals show us,
every day-the truly unconditional love. Finally, I thought about the
kind of love I see our pets show each other, the kind that always makes
me tear up! So, I made a mural of some safe, well fed, much loved pets, on a soft, warm rug, surrounded by their toys. :) It made me feel happy. It is 13x18 inches.
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![]() 10x14. Materials Used: Tumbled Dish Shards .On a recycled welcome home plaque. ![]() |
UNDERWATER CHALLENGE
The Water Goddess
The Great Goddess watches over all life everywhere, be it in the air, on
earth or under water. If you are very observant and lucky, you might
just catch a glimpse of her when you least expect it - but keep your
eyes peeled, if you blink you'll miss her!
Broken crockery, shards, glass tiles, mosaic glass, pebbles, beads and seashells on MDF backing. Grouted in dark gray with tinted grout lines. 18.9 by 37.8 inches ![]() ![]() |
People's Choice Winners ![]() Second Place- Fantasy Fish, by Alice Garrett ![]() 11.5" x 13.5", Materials
used: dish shards, beads, marbles, shells, broken fused glass bowls,
ceramic fairy door, and ceramic tile on the border. ![]() |
Joanne Paquin An Octopus' World I was inspired by this challenge, with living in the 'Ocean State'.
This piece is 6" x 6" x 1 1/2", and it's truly mixed media, as I used
various tesserae, to include stained glass, tempered glass, glitter,
beads ~ and even shells, rocks and beach glass that I picked up during
one of my many journeys to the beach.
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Frances Green The Water Goddess
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Christine Carey Ocean Picture Window ![]() Size 17 1/2 x 11 inches This
Ocean Picture Window backer is MDF. The border tiles are bubble tiles I
purchased from a Habitat ReSell store, the tiny tiles are Kismet and
the slightly larger tiles are Glitter tiles. All the fish, turtles, and
seahorse are fused glass pieces that I created and kiln fired. ![]() |
Lori Frank "Beneath the Waves"
8"
Styrofoam ball decorated with stained glass, mirror, and re-purposed
shower curtain hanger decor, (starfish and shells), grouted in a sea
green color. Ball is permanently adhered to a re-purposed seahorse
candle holder. Total height of piece is 19". Would make a lovely
bathroom accent piece!
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![]() | More about our Juror, Linda Biggers:
As long as I can remember, art has been an important part of my life.
As a child, I spent every spare minute drawing or painting. For years, I
dabbled in photography, painting, sculpture and a huge variety of
crafts and worked as a graphic designer for 18 years. In 1998, I
discovered eggshell and mixed media mosaic. Mosaic became my medium of
choice. With the use of glass, eggshell, natural stone and slate, I am
able to create works with the color and intense drama that I enjoy. I
love texture, brilliant colors and creating pieces that will evoke
feelings and emotions to the viewer. I live in Upstate New York with my
husband and two daughters. I am an active participant in local art shows
in Albany, Saratoga and Adirondack Regions. My work can be seen at
www.eggshellmosaicart.com, http://mosaicsbylinda.blogspot.com/, and art shows and galleries in Fulton, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties. |
Monochrome Challenge Winners!
Helen holds a B A Hons in Fine Art. Her studio is "situated amongst other art studios in a disused stone
quarry surrounded by wildlife so in keeping with my strong interest in
nature and natural material and recycling where possible". Her work is sculptural, natural, and we are all honored that she juried our show. You can see her work here. | ![]() |

-Helen Nock
Thank you for voting! We received 227 total votes... and every single one is appreciated!
First Place People's Choice
Blue Horizons, Alice Garret
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Scroll down to see all of the wonderful entries, and come back soon to see our next show!
Entry 2 ![]() |
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![]() This thrift store photo frame has been covered in a vast array of materials, all in shades of purple: iridescent stained glass, mirror, glass rod, buttons, Murano millefiori, Van Gogh tiles, and purple glass tile. It is grouted with purple seed and bugle beads. Frame measure 7" x 8.5" and will hold a 3.5" x 5" photo. |
![]() Glass mosaic on glass bottle, 24 cm tall. Grouted in light turquoise. Since we were only allowed one colour I decided to work with different textures and transparent/opaque materials, such as: beads, both solid and transparent, mille fiori, nuggets, glass hearts, pieces of turquoise, glass jewels, ball chain, bathroom tiles, a broken bowl and a broken water glass, a marble, a dolfin, a medallion. turquoise TG. I found the turquoise TG half way up a Swiss Alp, where apparently a tractor windshield had had an accident - true story.
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Entry 10 Peacock, by Christine Carrey ![]() I gathered together all the different textures of turquoise that I had at home and looked at them for a few days. The
color reminded me of a peacock. The triangles and body are fused glass.
The wavy pieces below the triangles are shell. The rest are a variety
of seed and bugle beads. Everything is glass except the shells. ![]() |
Entry 11 Nelson Mandela, by Pam Holt 24x11 inches, 3/4" thick I have been wanting to do something as a tribute to Mr. Mandela, and this challenge gave me the perfect opportunity. I searched for black and white photos of him, and used several different ones, as a guide for the details. It was hard to settle on just one quote, but I like this one, because it seems to sum up his life. |
![]() I have chosen to do the piece using a hammered back clear glass as
the substrate. I carefully chose different textures of iridesent glass
to create the mosaic. The water, seagull, sailboat and sun reflect the
light in their own unique way because of the different textured glass
that was used. I chose clear glass sead beads instead of grout and have
applied them on the water to enhance a wave-like image and also as part
of the sail on the boat. The piece is mounted on an oak board and can
be placed in different areas to reflect the different lights. The
other special feature with this particular piece is that any solid
colour of glass may be placed behind the piece to bring some colour into
the piece if desired. I made the patterns simple to reflect the simplicities in life. When we can un-complicate our life and get back to basics and keep things simple, it really can be clear sailing.
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Entry 13
Blue Horizons, by Alice Garrett
There are numerous ways the meaning of
horizon can be
viewed. It is the earth meeting the sky, it is reaching a limit of
experience, it is a word used to describe a specific archeological
period. My mosaic reveals several horizons, depending on which angle and
orientation you are looking. I attempted to reach the horizon of all
shades of blue ranging from an
almost translucent aqua (tumbled pieces from a broken glass bowl) to a
deep, dark, midnight blue (from a stoneware plate). Other materials used
are tumbled pottery shards including cups, bowls, plates and a few salt
&pepper shakers; jewelry pieces, glass flowers, metal flowers, a
blown glass marble, beads, the bottom of a glass mug, buttons, and a
recycled kitchen cabinet door. I guess you could say, archeologically
speaking, items from the 'Blue Horizon'.