By Cassie Doyon

On June 15, I taught an informal workshop on mosaic sculpture to NEMS members participating in the upcoming Field of Hearts-Art in the Orchard Exhibit, organized by Laurie Frazer and taking place in Northampton MA.  The workshop took place in a classroom space near my studio in Lawrence MA.  With my instruction, members worked on individual forms of heart shapes using a hot foam knife, foam adhesive and nails on styrofoam.

Each member created a hole in the bottom of their heart forms to insert and adhere a pvc pipe in order to properly mount their finished hearts to its metal base.  Members fine tuned their styrofoam substrates with rasps, then wrapped them in fiberglass mesh.  After the styrofoam was wrapped and secured, members applied a slurry of concrete to their forms, allowed the slurry to dry, then applied a thicker layer of concrete on top of the slurry.  Another layer of fiberglass mesh was placed over the concrete and the process was repeated with another layer of slurry and thicker concrete.  The workshop ran from 10 am till 5 pm.  Some members were able to experience a Peruvian/Japanese fusion restaurant for lunch nearby.  I shared my successful and not so successful experiences with mosaic sculpture and a fun time was had by all.

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