With archaeologists often uncovering mosaics more than 2000 years old, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that one day, in the distant future, some of Lisa Brand’s masterpieces will be dug up from the ruins of what used to be north-east Victoria.
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In the meantime, however, she is just happy creating beautiful art and passing her skills along to budding students.
Lisa has been a mosaic artist for about 25 years and more recently she’s been teaching others, initially at the Heart of Art in Benalla, on Carrier St, and now at her Goorambat studio, under the name Mosaiced Memories.
“It’s been called Mosaic Memories for about 12 months,” she said.
“I’ve been selling my pieces for about six or seven years.
“Initially, I didn’t want to let them go, but when I put them up for same they did quite well.
“And I’d had many people over the years asking if I could teach them, so I started taking on a few students.”
It can take some time to find your calling as an artist, and Lisa tried her hand at many different things before deciding to focus on Mosaics.
'Brazen Bunny' by Lisa Brand.
“I did paper, dried flower arrangement, building frames from old fence palings and so many different things.
“It wasn't until I got to mosaicing that I thought, oh, I found it, thank goodness, this is what I want to do.”
And it was finding that so many people also wanted to give mosaicing a go that led to Lisa trying her hand at teaching.
“So I thought I’d share what I know, and it has grown from there.
“Right now at my studio in Goorambat I’ve got students working on some pretty big pieces, like great big concrete busts.
“And they are making some fabulous things. I get so excited about mosaics, and getting to share that excitement with others has become the most important thing to me.”
Lisa said that seeing her students create things that might exist for 2000 years is part of her motivation.
“If you teach people to do them well, and teach them to use the right inset or adhesive, the right substrate, what you're actually mosaicing onto, what, what tessera, they can produce some wonderful things.
“The tessera is the actual pieces that you're mosaicing with.
“So it can be jewellery, it can be metal, it can be tile, it can be glass, it can be so many different things.
“And teaching them which things can be out in the weather, which things are better not to be outside or how to weatherproof things is all part of it.
“I'm finding that my students are now thinking, ‘Oh, I've got this jewellery that my mother gave me that I'm never going to use, or I've got a tea set, or I've got this, or I've got that’.
“So they're all starting to think of things that they've got sitting in their cupboards which will never get used otherwise, and now they've got all these ideas about how they can use it in a mosaic which will last and possibly be an heirloom.”
Lisa said the upcycling element gives a unique feel to her student's work, is good for the environment and creates beauty from things with great sentimental meaning to them.
'Fair Weather Feather' by Lisa Brand.
There is great scope for creativity in terms of the materials used in mosaicing, as well as the design and overall theme.
“One of the exhibitions I did a while ago was with was called the Solar Punk Art Festival, and it was in the off-grid living festival,” Lisa said.
And that was all about using, about recycling and repurposing.
“So the pieces that I took in, one of them was a bust that I did with a, with a sea theme.
“Her name was Amphitrite (The Greek goddess of the sea). I did her scales with bottle tops, which I’d flattened.”
Some of Lisa’s work us currently for sale in Ruby Blue Cafe, in Nunn St, Benalla.
“And I’ve got some at the Benalla Art Gallery Pop-Up shop (in Bridge St East).
“There’s also some at the Heart of Art, in Carrier St.”
Lisa is also taking in new students. To find out more, or to apply, contact her through Mosaiced Memories on Facebook.
