Orsoni Prize 2011 Winners Announced
On 28, Sep 2011 | One Comment | In Et cetera, Exhibits & Museums | By man-admin
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| Frank Zappa Julian Modica (France) 50 x 50 cm Smalti. |
The jurors, master mosaicist Lucio Orsoni, Honorary President of Orsoni Smalti Veneziani, Angelo Orsoni and Pino Bisazza, President of international tile innovator Trend, selected Frank Zappa because of the artist’s exceptional success in “giving an extraordinary mosaic atmosphere through the choice of a subject which is certainly (not what one would think of as) mosaic.”
We can see that. We also see that Modica, a graduate of the famed Scuola Mosaicist del Friuli, captured Zappa’s intelligent, sly approach to the world around him. It is more than just the image. It’s the fact that the largely neutral palette is broken with primary colors. Zappa was never what one thought he was at first glance. Neither is this portrait.
The Orsoni Prize is awarded biannually to mosaic artists for excellence in working with the material that has made Orsoni Veneziani famous – smalti – that exquisite enameled glass that adorns the floors, ceilings and walls of places of worship, government, study, and commerce all around the world. The only guidance for submitting artists is that 75% of the artwork be composed of Orsoni smalti.
Finalist designation went to Erika V. Haaland of Sao Paulo, Brazil for Gold Leave.
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| Gold Leave Erica V. Haaland (Brazil) 124 x 84.5 cm Smalti |
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| Stochastic Processes Cynthia Fisher (USA) 65 x 54.5 cm Smalti. |
Doob (1996) defines a stochastic process as a family of random variables
from some probability space
into a state space
. Here,
is the index set of the process. — Mathworld.Wolfram.com
Clearly Ms. Fisher is continuing to explore the stratosphere of math through mosaic which she started in her “fractal” series. For that body of work, Fisher was named one of the eight artists in Mosaic Art NOW’s Exhibition in Print 2010.
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| Battito, Pulse Rebecca R Quattrone (USA) 68.6 x 134.5 x 13 cm |
Rebecca Quattrone’s Battito (Pulse) (above) makes skillful use of sculptural forms in giving a third dimension – or “life”– to a two-dimensional image that is the icon of life itself – the heartbeat. The effect is quite dramatic.
We are very, very pleased to announce that Mosaic Art NOW Publisher, Michael Welch, was the third artist to receive an Honorable Mention.
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| Timeless Vortex – Antelope Canyon Michael Welch (USA) 38 x 61 cm Smalti |
We want to send a very large round of applause to Orsoni and Trend for their continued support of contemporary mosaic artists through the Orsoni Award. Grazie a tutti.
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The portrait of Zappa is a standout. Lovely to see some Americans among the others singled out.
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