CYNTHIA FISHER,  BIO and ARTIST STATEMENT

Cynthia Fisher, artist in her BIG BANG MOSAICS studio, in front of a new abstract mosaic, "The Cosmic Microwave Background", photo credit, RORY FISHER

BIO
I have been a professional artist for over thirty years with a focus on mosaics since 2000. At Big Bang Mosaics I create installations in public, residential, and corporate settings nationwide. My diverse body of work ranges from illustrative to painterly to non-representational. My abstract mosaics have received prestigious national and international awards, including the Juror's Choice Award at the Mosaic Arts International show at the Women's Museum in San Diego, Ca in 2016. I conduct  school and community projects, including 8 in Guatemala. I teach mosaic workshops in my studio, at art and craft centers across the country as well as virtually. MOSAICS are my world, and I am always happy to share my passion for this medium.

ARTIST STATEMENT
​When I first started making mosaics over twenty years ago, I knew I had found the art form that best suits my artistic sensibilities. Several years later I took this one step further in identifying my true passion, working abstractly in the mosaic medium. 
My abstract work begins with intention: an idea, concept or theme I want to explore. The natural world and science and math concepts are some favorites; currently I am working on an on-going series, 'A Mosaic Journey, Peregrinations on Being Human'.
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I put a lot of thought into what I will create, why, and how I will do so with careful selection of materials and use of andamento. Unique to the mosaic art  form, andamento is the visual flow produced by the placement of rose of tile pieces, or tesserae.                                                                                            These building blocks of the medium are just that - mostly blocky rectilinear shapes that I, the mosaic artist must bring to life by both the shapes I choose as well as how I position them. The physicality of the medium is significant: I begin by holding my art form. Pieces are added and subtracted, sometimes in a trial and error method until something begins to click. I am drawn to the exquisite colors of the materials, from stained glass to Italian and Mexican Smalti. I incorporate handmade pottery shards and patterned ceramics as they provide further surface detail and texture.  And finally, noting the finite color palette, I can’t mix my colors the way a painter does, and this limitation often forces me to be more creative as a result. 

When the thought process and preparation is complete and the mosaic pieces are in hand, I begin to work intuitively, viscerally responding to the materials and how they come together. In these moments the world falls away and I am once again enraptured by the joy of creating.