Fine art mosaic by Seattle artist Jo Braun.

ARTIST STATEMENT
I design, fabricate, and install portable and architectural works from the flotsam and detritus of the twenty-first century building industry. My work emphasizes salvaged or recycled stone, porcelain, and glass, much of it garnered from builders and manufacturers who purport to be “Green.” I hand cut these gleanings with Roman-era technology, and recombine the pieces based on ancient Byzantine poetic grammar. Many still refer to this art form as “mosaic,” and I do, too, sometimes...until that category becomes too limiting. Then I say I create art from hard garbage.

ONGOING & UPCOMING EVENTS

Bricks and Mortar received Best in Show honors in the international juried exhibition Cutting Edges: Contemporary Mosaic Art at the Lakewood Center for the Arts in Lake Oswego, OR. Many thanks to jurors Sonia King, Steven Aimone, and Sophie Drouin.

I just completed an art panel composed of found and salvaged small hardware. Who knew metal came in so many colors?! Click here to see it, then click "Next" to see two detail images.

Right now I'm working on a glass-on-glass project for the First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. I adhered salvaged stained glass from their old sanctuary, which was recently demolished, to windows that will be installed in a new education center. I'm now at the grouting stage. That's the color palette, above right, sparkling in Seattle's spring sunshine. The more time I spend with these four colors and their naturally-occurring variations, the more ingenious they seem, andthe more I appreciate the old sanctuary's designers' sense of rich subtlety.

For my colleagues who work in fine art mosaic, you might be interested in clicking the Seattle Secret Stash button, or go straight to SeattleSecretStash.etsy.com.

Later this summer, I'll start work on another public art project, this one for the City of Tacoma-Tacoma Power lobby and stairwell renovation. The project includes a series of "durable mixed media collage" art panels composed of beautiful salvaged junk from Tacoma Power's electrical shop. I like to think of the art panels as post-post-modern display cabinets. The last four images on my Commission Art Panels page shows the maquettes I created for the commission competition.