Expressing… Shug Jones

Best Large-Scale Exterior Mosaic, Mosaic Arts International 2007, "Tracks of Our Past and Future"

I have worked in many media over the years—graphite, ink, colored pencil, oil, watercolor, and even scratchboard. They all have their place in my repertoire of art supplies.  Today, however, I choose to use tactile materials, such as glass, stone, porcelain, and beads to make my art.   

It is the textures and the colors that draw me in—the need to create something that moves, converses with, and surprises the viewer. I love the challenge of combining the colored tesserae in such a way as to create a color entirely different, the process of gluing thousands of tiny pieces of glass to a surface that when viewed from a distance becomes a realistic image. 

Mosaic has broadened my view of what art is.  It has given me the desire to go beyond the two-dimensional surface and seek the third dimension. It has opened my eyes to possibilities that I never knew existed and abilities I never knew were there inside me.   

—Shug Jones