Patricia Hagen
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Artist’s Statement We live in troubled times: no one can argue with that. How to ward off despair, find balance, create a peaceful space, a space for retreat and renewal? My own answer for the past two years has been a rekindled interest in abundance, inspired by the sense of wonder and gratitude displayed in small medieval artifacts: reliquaries, manuscript covers, icon décor. After many years as a painter and a creator of large scale mosaics, I’ve found that I can say things in small medievally-inspired “mosaicollages” that I cannot say in other media. Making my own tiles allows me to add text—lines from poetry or words that resonate for me and, I hope, for others—as a design and thematic element. As a mosaicist, I am fascinated by the way in which bits and pieces, not much to look at in themselves, can come together to create patterns of interest, of beauty, of dissonance; individual elements are transformed through context, new relationships are created, while the gaps create create their own rhythms, reinforcing separateness yet holding the whole together. As a metaphor, it works for me: thoughts and experiences, themselves fleeting and small, come together in patterns; lives are broken and reconfigured, perhaps many times; individuals come together in relationships, families, communities; fragmented bits take on meaning and value as part of a larger design. And yet the gaps remain . . . I like giving new life to abandoned and natural objects: garage sale jewelry, seashells, pebbles, beach glass, broken crockery, old postcards—not just talking about recycling but doing it. While many of my pieces use the same or similar words and tiles, the combinations are endless, so each piece is unique. Price Range $30 - $68
© 2010 Benevolent Acorn info@BenevolentAcorn.com Saint Paul, Minnesotamailto:info@BenevolentAcorn.comshapeimage_3_link_0
All artwork featured on this page by Patricia Hagen © 2008