T E S S E R A E

T E S S E R A E

Designed and edited by Jonathan Hill

www.jonathanhill.co.uk

All images belong to the author unless

referenced at the end of book.

Printed and bound by Ripe Digital

www.ripedigital.co.uk

Typeset in Akzidenz-Grotesk

Contents

Oldest surviving mosaic

Roman mosaics in Britain

Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna

Antoni Gaudi

Paul Bull

Cleo Mussi

Marco Bravura

David Bowers

Kate Rattray

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54

8The oldest surviving

mosaic, from around

3000 bc.

Although the oldest surviving

examples of mosaic art are wall

decorations, it is likely that long

beforehand early man was laying

stones in his cave to make a functional

and attractive solid floor.

9

Wall mosaic designs were created

with clay pegs imbedded into

columns of the Stone Cone Temple in

Mesopotamia.

10Roman mosaics

in Britain

11

Most Roman mosaics in Britain were

laid between 150 and 200 AD, but it

also saw development in the late third

and early fourth century with wealthy

landowners enlarging their villas.

12

As well as creating bold geometric

patterns, Romans created mosaics

depicting mythological scenes.

Mosaics were often laid

in Roman bathhouses,

with mythological

marine creatures being

popular subjects.

13

14Byzantine mosaics

in Ravenna

Ravenna converted to Christianity

very early, in the 2nd century AD. As

Rome’s power declined, Ravenna took

over as capital of the Western Empire

in 402 AD.

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Ravenna has the finest collection

of early Christian mosaics, notably

those in The Basilica of San Vitale.

Ravenna’s mosaics have been

collectively designated a World

Heritage Site.

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20

In Barcelona, Antoni Gaudi worked

with Josep Maria Jujol to produce the

stunning ceramic mosaics of Park

Guell between 1900 and 1914.

Antoni Gaudi

Park Guell

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22

They used a technique known as trencadis, in

which tiles covered surfaces of buildings. They

also incorporated broken crockery and other found

objects, a revolutionary idea in formal art and

architecture.

23

It’s generally overlooked that some of

the most spectacular and innovative

mosaics were the work of Gaudì’s

collaborator, Josep Maria Jujo.

24

25

26

The bench at Park Guell snakes

its way around the edge of a large

square. Construction of the bench

took place in the later stages of the

park’s construction, from 1910 to

1913.

27

Gaudì is said to have used seated workmen

as actual models for the form of the seat and

Jujol carried out the decoration, using tiles and

handmade ceramics.

30Paul Bull

Mosaic Artist

Paul Bull started his career as a

mosaic artist in 1974, working with

his father Brian G Bull. ‘My Father

left school at the age of fourteen

to start an apprenticeship with his

father, who was at that time one of

the leading floor and wall craftsmen

in the west of England. He had an

interest in mosaic techniqes so he

visited Peter Maddalena, the leading

mosaic craftsman of his time. He had

been involved in the mosaic work on

palaces and domes in Russia, and my

father learned many techniques from

him, including the creating of domes.’

31

‘I started my apprenticeship in

1975 working on the Woodchester

Pavement. Throughout 1974 I used to

cut all the tesserae to be used on the

pavement, in our shed, for 50 pence

a bucket. By 1978 the studio was

trading as Brian Bull & Associates

and we had begun working in the

Middle East. Over the next 20 years my father,

sister, brother and myself worked on

palaces, mosques domes fountains

and swimming pools. You name it

we worked on it, but the work in the

Middle East came to an end in the

1990s’.

32Cleo Mussi

Mosaic Artist

33

Cleo Mussi makes exquisitely

mosaiced 3D figures, using tiny

pieces of crockery, clipped to size

and shape and grouted into place.

‘It’s difficult… if I say I make mosaics, people have

images of all sorts of hideous things, but if I say I

deconstruct and reconstruct ceramics, that’s a bit

pompous. I usually end up just showing people my

work.’

34Marco Bravura

Mosaic Artist

Marco Bravura is an

Italian mosaic artist

whose work has been

exhibited internationally.

His monuments can be found across Italy and the

Middle East, and he has a sculpture installed on the

grounds of the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, a

World Heritage site.

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38David Bowers

Community Mosaic Artist

I met with David and asked him a few

questions about his work, and he

generously invited me to join him at a

project he had at a local school.

39

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41

How did you get started making mosaics with

schools?

It started as a hobby when I was doing shift work. I

didn’t take art at secondary school or anything like

that. I’ve been doing it full time for 10 years now, I’m

always busy. I started classes and someone said,

“Why don’t you have a go at teaching schools?” I

sent out some letters to schools and one or two of

them came back. It went from there and eventually I

couldn’t do the shift work any more so I packed it in

and never looked back.

43

Can you talk me through the stages of a

project?

For a normal project, the school would come up

with a theme for the mural. The kids that are taking

part in the project then submit sketches to fit in with

that theme. I then work with 6 kids and we develop

the sketches and say we like that, we like that etc.

Then we have a pile of sketches that we like certain

elements from, and realistically the kids do a lot

of the same stuff, and I don’t personally believe in

competitions where you only get one winner. This

way a lot of the kids different designs go in it so we

cherry-pick the best ideas, then myself and six kids

do our own individual little A4 sketches.

Then I work on a big A2 piece of paper and we look

at all our own sketches and then pick out the best

bits from that, and bring it all together and colour it

in. It’s quite nice if 30 kids have all put a rainbow on

their ideas, that seems to work quite nicely.

I spend a lot of time cutting out the tiles, and then

kids come along in groups and take turns to set

them down. In the afternoon of the second day the

kids come back and they grout it, kids love that bit

because they get to muck about with cement, which

they absolutely adore, and then it’s done.

I’m biased, but we do quite a nice job.

‘kids love that bit because they get to muck about with cement, which they absolutely adore, and then it’s done.’

44

Why do you think making mosaics is still quite

popular?

It goes in phases; it’s quite an approachable thing

to learn. Most of us have hang-ups about painting

and drawing from school days, and mosaics doesn’t

really have a lot to do with that. Once you learn how

to use the nipper, which takes about 5 minutes, it’s

all about trying to visualise stuff.

45

‘it’s quite an approachable thing to learn.’

There’s always people doing workshops, there’s

quite a few mosaicist who work in schools up and

down the country.

If you get a painted mural it looks lovely, but if

someone comes along and tags it you’re buggered

because you can’t take it off. Whereas with

mosaics, because it’s tiles, you can get a normal

chemical cleaner and just remove it.

46

What are your usual projects?

Normally entrance wall murals, it’s

nice for a school to have an entrance

wall mural that’s been made by the

kids. I’d say three quarters of the

mosaics I do for schools are entrance

wall murals. Each school has a

strapline or a motto so sometimes it’s

themed around that.

I worked at a school down in Plymouth

and theirs was ‘Free to fly, onwards,

upwards, together’ so we had these

kids that were flying through the

sky, but I talked to the school about

whether we could enlarge upon it

so we looked at different animals

that could fly, so there’s Pegasus in

there, there’s Icarus, we’ve got Mary

Poppins, Superman, a witch and a

little fairy in there!

‘I’m making a Superman, what are you doing at work?’

47

I’ve done healthy eating ones; now and then I do

murals where I can get a TARDIS in there. I’ve got

friends who work in IT who have quite boring jobs

so I text them and say, ‘I’m making a Superman,

what are you doing at work?’ They don’t like that.

48

Are there any artists who inspire your work?

I love Gaudi, I’ve been to Barcelona, and I’ve

been to Venice. Cleo Mussi, her stuff is absolutely

amazing.

I suppose one of my weaknesses is that because I

didn’t go to university to do art that my knowledge

of artists is quite limited, so my art has been

developed bit by bit but then it’s developed working

with kids. I would like to know more about different

artists but I haven’t got the time. I go to galleries

and I enjoy art but I just haven’t got the time. I’m a

bit of a Pre-Raphaelite fan, and I like street art and

Banksy so I suppose there’s little bits that come in

there.

What do you think children get from these

projects?

When I do these design workshop with the kids,

when I take 6 kids to look at other children’s

designs I always say to the school, ‘You don’t

necessarily have to give me kids that are arty’. ‘If

you give me 6 kids, give me 3 kids that are arty and

3 kids that could do with the confidence boost’. For

me personally art shouldn’t always be about ability.

It’s about expressing yourself, even if you can’t draw

perfectly or whatever.

I talk to the kids a lot about Quentin Blake, and

show them pictures of his stuff and say look,

technically his stuff doesn’t look right, but it’s

equally amazing because you understand what his

imagery is.

49

It’s funny when you work with kids as they get older

they’re more aware of their artistic ability. When you

get to adults we all get hang-ups about painting

and drawing. When I’ve done adult workshops at

the end of it somebody might look at their mosaic

and say ‘I wish I’d done this, wish I’d done that’

and I always say to them, ‘look, it’s fine to critique

your work but if you look at it, at the beginning of

the workshop would you believe that you could

produce what you have?’ and obviously the answer

is generally no. You can be critical about your work

but you should also celebrate what you’ve made and

to be honest, that’s the thing we all forget to do.

‘You can be critical about your work but you should also celebrate what you’ve made and to be honest, that’s the thing we all forget to do’

50

What is it that you enjoy?

The part of the job that I like is at the

end of it when the kids have all done

their bit and it’s finished and the kids

go ‘that’s mine’, ‘I did that’. I worked

down in Yeovil and we made 4 murals

over 7 days, I worked with over 450

kids. So at the end on the last day,

we’d got them all finished, they had

an assembly for all the kids, we set up

What was really nice at the end of the day all the kids went back

to class and then we set the murals up so one was in each corner

and a couple of hundred kids came in with their parents and

showed them what they had done. That’s the bit I love about it,

seeing the kids either individually or collectively going ‘I made

that’ or ‘we made that’. For me that’s part of my job, personally I

always think that the process is more important than the outcome,

even more so with kids.

‘I always think that the process is more important than the outcome’

each of the murals so

they were all standing

up so all the kids could

see them, and then we

unveiled each mural

one by one and the kids

were all going ‘wow.’

51

You do get mosaicists who work in

schools and sometimes when I look

at it I think ‘that’s too good.’ If you

look at it and read the small print it’s

designed by the kids and made by the

artist. I don’t get it; I don’t understand

why the school’s employed them.

‘you can encourage the kids but it should mainly be done by the kids’

It should be made

by the kids, you can

encourage the kids but

it should mainly be done

by the kids. Some stuff

is just a bit too good.

54Kate Rattray

Mosaic Artist

I visited Kate at her workshop, where

she told me about her practice and

let me have a look around at her

completed work and current projects.

55

56

Is this where you make all of your work?

Yeah, I think as a mosaic artist I’m probably one

of the messiest ones. I have seen other people’s

workshops and they are a lot tidier than mine. It may

be just that they tidied up before I got there. I’m

so unorganised like that, I’m organised in different

ways. Like when I’ve got to get things done by and

things like that, but not with just having space for

everything. It’s going to be a nightmare with the

swan in here; the lion was really hard work I was

squashed up against the wall.

‘as a mosaic artist I’m probably one of the messiest ones’

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58

Why are you working with your

tiles on paper?

I’m doing what’s called double

indirect. Indirect would be done

upside down, the design would be

back to front, so that when you put

it onto the board you turn it over into

the tile adhesive and soak the paper

off. I’m doing it double indirect so

that I can see what I’m doing as I’m

going along, so this is what it will look

like. When I’ve done it I’ll lay a sheet

of paper onto it, turn it over, soak

that sheet off and then I’ve got the

indirect, and then that will go into the

tile adhesive.

Weird way of doing it but I wanted

to be able to see what I was doing,

and also by doing it on the paper I’m

not covering up my drawing with tile

adhesive.

59

Do you work in schools?

They don’t seem to get back to me, I expect David

gets most of them. I actually did pass one on to

him because it was in Bristol and I thought, ‘I can’t

be bothered’. I could do with the money at the

moment. It is hard work as well, it’s so exhausting.

I’m just absolutely knackered by the end of the day

in schools.

‘It is hard work as well, it’s so exhausting’

60

You do adult workshops quite often though?

I do workshops at the stained glass place in Bristol.

This time I had two teachers, one was a physics

teacher and the other was a psychology teacher.

The physics teacher does a lot of her own stuff;

she’s a bit of a craftsperson really. She only sells

a bit, she doesn’t do it as a business. She makes

silver jewellery and stained glass, all sorts of things.

‘Normally they’re fairly artistic and they want to pursue a bit more’

It was unusual this time because they all knew

about cutting glass and how to do it, whereas

normally they’re not really sure how to go about any

of it. Quite often they’re total beginners and they

just want to do something a bit different or they love

mosaics and want to know how to make them, it’s

a mixture. Quite often they’re teachers or they’re

social workers or something like that funnily enough,

people people.

The other guy was a planner for his real job and

does stained glass as a part time business really.

Normally they’re fairly artistic and they want to

pursue a bit more.

61

I do them all over the place when

I’ve got a chance or when I can be

bothered. I’ve got to do a lot more

workshops. When I’m teaching I

really enjoy it, it’s just the lead up to

it because I have to prepare things.

I’d like to have a big enough studio

so that I could run workshops but

I’ve looked at places for ages and I

can’t afford the rent. If I knew I was

definitely going to make money out

‘When I’m teaching I really enjoy it’

of it and people would

buy my stuff then I’d do

it, but I don’t know if I

would, its too much of a

gamble.

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63

How long have you been making mosaics?

I’ve been doing it now for about 18 years and I’d never say I’ve

made a living out of it. Now it’s got to the stage where I’ve got to

really try and make a living out of it, so I’ve got to try and do some

more workshops and really push it a bit more.

You don’t make a lot of money?

It is hard; people don’t seem to buy them very much. Maybe I’m

not going about it the right way on my website. I don’t think it’s

fashionable again, it comes and goes and I think its possibly

going through that unfashionable stage. If people are wanting

installations in their homes then perhaps they’re wanting lovely

big glass things. It’s very difficult. I’m trying everything. I do get

people asking how much is something, ‘I really like it’ and all this

but they either don’t get back to me or they say ‘oh I can’t afford

that at the moment, I’d love to have it but no.’

‘it’s got to the stage where I’ve got to really try and make a living out of it’

How does a normal project work?

Clients normally have some sort of idea, so

they’ll ask, normally email and just say, ‘are you

interested, I want something for my house’ or, ‘I

want something for a friend.’ They look at my work

more and find things they like in other pieces, they’ll

say, ‘I really like the background of this one, can you

do something like that?’ So I send photos of the

drawings, and I send photos of the project half way

through, but it’s as much as they want really I can

send more.

64

How did you get started?

We’d just had our first 2 boys and we moved into

a schoolhouse in Devon, near Exeter. I hadn’t been

out of college for long after finishing my degree, and

I was doing collage work and exhibiting it. I asked

the teacher if I could do any work with the kids and

he took me to this wall and said, ‘can you make a

mosaic on this wall?’ so I said, ‘okay then.’

65

I didn’t have a clue so I rang a mosaic

artist first of all and asked if she could

give me any advice and she just said,

‘get my book,’ but I thought ‘I’m not

buying your book’ and I went and

got loads of really old books out of

Exeter library, ancient ones, but they

were amazing. I wish I could get hold

of them again. I just read everything

and taught myself, I don’t think I even

did any little ones to prepare. I talked

to these builders and they put up a

concrete screed for me and showed

me how to make up the mortar and I

just got on with it. It has always been

a case of learning from my mistakes.

‘It has always been a case of learning from my mistakes.’

The school then asked me to do the

garden with lots of little mosaics in

and then another school asked me,

so it took off with schools really.

When my kids had gone to school I

just wanted to really concentrate on

developing my style and developing

my technique.

66

Did you make mosaics during

your degree?

I didn’t do any mosaics at all when I

was studying my degree. I had a bit

of experience in ceramics, I’d done O

Level ceramics and I’d done evening

classes, but at college I was doing

video and dance. I gave up dance and

I was doing photomontage in my final

year. So it is kind of the development

of what I had done, but it was more of

a very chance thing that the teacher

had asked me to do it.

It’s funny how things turn out. I do

sometimes wonder if I’d carried on

doing collage whether I would actually

be earning a bit more money. It would

have been cheaper for a start.

67

What do you enjoy doing most?

I get much more enjoyment out of

doing sculptural pieces, I’ve got one

that’s going into the ‘Art at the Edge’

Olympics thing, and that’s going to be

in Bath in a little garden that you walk

past near Bath Spa.

I’m also mosaicing a swan for the

Swans of Wells public art project,

like the Lions of Bath project I took

park in. I’ve been sponsored by a firm

of solicitors and they were happy to

give me free reign over the design,

although they were keen to have some

black and green in it as they are the

colours of their logo.

‘It’s funny how things turn out.’

68

Have you always lived in the countryside?

I was brought up in a village; there was a lot of

countryside around. When we got married we lived

in Newton Abbot in the town, but the other places

were all in the countryside, and at college I was in a

small countryside campus. I must admit I do feel cut

69

off from the world, although it’s great

for nature and inspiration, it’s brilliant

for that, but for people and culture it’s

quite cut off. I’d love to be able to go

out and go to the theatre and go to a

gallery and not have to travel a long

way, it does get a bit lonely at times,

bit it’s good for inspiration and I think

it does help my work.

Image Sources

Fischer, Peter (1971) Mosaic History and Techniques. Thames

and Hudson Ltd.

Rainey, Anne (1973) Mosaics in Roman Britain. David and

Charles (Holdings) Ltd.

Cetto, Anna Maria (1960) The Ravenna Mosaics. Hallwag Ltd.

Gomis, Joaquim (1971) Park Guell. Ediciones Poligrafa

http://paulbullmosaics.co.uk/

http://www.homesandantiques.com/feature/designs-we-love/

cleo-mussi-mosaics

http://www.goodkarma.it/marcobravura/

http://www.rattraymosaics.co.uk/

http://www.artattheedge.org/

All other images taken by Jonathan Hill

Thanks to Kate Rattray, David Bowers

and Chandag Infant School.

Pages 8, 9

Pages 10, 11

Pages 14, 15, 16, 17

Pages 20, 21, 22, 23,

24, 25, 26, 27

Pages 30, 31

Pages 32, 33

Pages 34, 35

Pages 60, 67

Page 66

This is not a guide to the complete

history of mosaics of a single

region, nor is it full of step-by-step

instructions on creating your own.

This is a showcase of some examples

of the greatest historical mosaics,

and case studies of artists who are

keeping this technique alive over

5000 years since it first appeared.