Caitlin Hepworth – Sculptural Mosaics

Caitlin Hepworth – Sculptural Mosaics

Salepage : Caitlin Hepworth – Sculptural Mosaics

Arichive : Caitlin Hepworth – Sculptural Mosaics

Mosaic Arts Online is delighted to share with you one of the best in sculptural mosaic art. Caitlin Hepworth brings her years of experience as not only a sculptor and visual arts educator but her amazing talent and skills as a mosaic artist as well. This online course provides a comprehensive step by step introduction to making sculptural mosaics. Caitlin teaches you to go beyond the skills needed to mosaic on a three-dimensional object (such as a pot or pre-made form) and takes you through the process of making your own custom designed sculptural form that communicates something to you. Through this course you begin to understand the important relationship between the form and the mosaic that is applied to it.

We start by looking for inspiration and look to the natural world and poetry for our ideas. Caitlin then shows you simple drawing techniques to work through various representations of your idea in pencil. From here we move into three dimensions investigating possibilities through two separate models. These models are photographed and evaluated before being scaled up to the final size.

From here we build and strengthen our substrate, and while it cures we spend a significant component of the course looking at design elements such as colour and value. We create a colour palette and value scale with our chosen tesserae as well as examine which thinset colours work best for the colour palette. We also take a basic look at andamento and how to plan and explore different andamento ideas on paper including sdoppiamento (line splitting). These investigative planning methods become valuable tools going forward into all forms of mosaic art.

Once your substrate is cured Caitlin guides you through processes and decisions involved in making your mosaic. Colour choice, tesserae choice, evaluation, edging, finishing, cleaning and more.

This course provides a comprehensive scaffold for you to follow and apply to a multitude of mosaic projects. It offers a combination of valuable techniques as well as allowing room for individual creative expression and extension to mosaic artists with a variety of experience.

Our bonus section includes faceting smalti using the hammer and hardie for the purpose of creating textured inclusions in your mosaic.

This course comes with a very detailed downloadable PDF with all the tools, materials and resources for you to get started on your sculptural mosaic.

Your Instructor

Caitlin Hepworth

Caitlin Hepworth is an Australian artist working in contemporary sculptural mosaic. Her work is thematic exploring narratives of regeneration, resilience and transformation observed through environmental and psychological perspectives.

Graduating from the National Art School in 2000 with a BFA in Sculpture, Caitlin went on to complete a Master of Teaching in Visual Arts at USYD graduating in 2002. She has been included in numerous national and international exhibitions including most recently the Waterhouse National Science Prize 2018 and Sculpture at Scenic World 2018. She has twice been a finalist in the Society of American Mosaic Artists Mosaic Arts International Exhibition 2016 & 2017 as well as a finalist in the Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics Chicago ‘Stories we Tell’ exhibition 2017. In 2015 Caitlin was awarded first prize in wall hanging mosaic in the Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand National Exhibition.

In 2018 Caitlin was a participant in the 3 rd Symposium of Contemporary Mosaics in Ploaghe, Sardinia, Italy at the invitation of Giulio Menossi. In the same year, she was awarded the SAMA Robin Brett Scholarship which assisted her to study under Verdiano Marzi at the Chicago Mosaic School in May 2019.

Caitlin’s sculptural forms have been described as ‘darkly seductive’ through her manipulation of smalti glass and stone over forms that evoke ceremonial and metaphorical objects. Her forms are created with steel, fibre glass, and cement then married with mosaic application of hand cut tesserae, a process which allows her to imprint uniquely on her material.

Caitlin is the director of Hughes Studio – School of Visual Art and Mosaic in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, NSW, Australia. From here Caitlin teaches mosaic, ceramics and visual arts as well as hosting guest teaches from around the world to facilitate specialty workshops.

Course Curriculum

First Section

Start
Introduction and personal interview with Caitlin and Tami (9:56)

Start
Downloadable PDF Tools, Materials, and Resources.

Start
Inspiration to start. (2:23)

Start
Introduction to drawing. (1:14)

Start
How to create a simple drawing from your inspiration. (4:02)

Start
Creating a model aka Maquette with modeling clay. (3:04)

Start
Creating a model aka Maquette with wire mesh. (3:41)

Start
Evaluating the models. (1:58)

Start
Evaluating your models through photography. (0:40)

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Evaluating models from photos. (2:11)

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Scaling up. (2:02)

Start
Cutting the diamond mesh or hardware cloth. (4:39)

Start
How to bend and undulate the wire mesh. (2:23)

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Preparing the fiberglass mesh. (2:53)

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Add thinset to the mesh. (10:43)

Start
Adding thinset to back side of the wire mesh. (12:04)

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Cover the back of the form with plastic wrap. (1:44)

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Clean and treat edges of sculpture. (8:26)

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Wrapping edges and finishing the tip of the sculpture. (6:48)

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Introducing the palette. (5:32)

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Introduction of the color wheel. (4:34)

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Value Scale and Tinted Adhesive. (5:13)

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Drawing Andamento Lesson. (9:04)

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Creating a flow drawing. (3:45)

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Flow line drawing examples. (3:36)

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Preparing to Mosaic. (3:59)

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Starting with the Central Line. (4:13)

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Applying the Smalti. (3:16)

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Continuing to Apply the Smalti. (6:24)

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Blending thinset colors. (10:26)

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Sculptural considerations while creating with the Smalti. (9:57)

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Starting to mosaic the edge. (9:31)

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Continuing to create. (7:07)

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Marrying the edge to the mosaic. (8:09)

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Finishing the tip of the sculpture with mosaic. (11:42)

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Starting the backside of the mosaic sculpture. (3:17)

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Progress on the backside of the mosaic sculpture. (2:27)

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Adding lighter colors on the backside. (5:38)

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Finalizing the mosaic sculpture process. (6:50)

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Caitlin’s other works. (6:42)

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Final Cleaning of Mosaic Sculpture and Wrap Up. (5:55)

Start
BONUS SECTION! How To Facet on Italian Smalti. (5:55)