Con Kiernan

Why mosaic art and why New Zealand flora?...and now history?  I like the "bigness" of the mosaic format; it is an ancient artform that has stood the test of time. Some of the world's significant art sites feature mosaic art. They astonish and uplift people; they encourage a sense of history creating a link between one age and another. I have decided to treat iconic New Zealand themes in the mosaic form to capture the beauty of our country to give us a greater sense of place; and native flora has become central to this endeavour. More recently I have been working on historical themes, largely because of the history that permeates Waikino, Waihi and the Karangahake Gorge where I now live. My methods are mixed medium mosaic form. A style that has emerged recently into a base relief form so what is often called a 3d approach, lifts out a human face or object to stress its importance to the theme of the art. I use stone, glass, tile, merge ceramics into themes, always with a permanency factor involved for outside use, avoiding anything such as MDF board that ‘blows’ and destroys tesserae. However every piece of art requires specific requirements and these have to be discovered in the process of ‘doing the job’.