Featured Artist of the Month: Stacia Goodman

Featured Artist of the Month: Stacia Goodman

Website: www.staciagoodmanmosaics.com

Email: Stacia@staciagoodman.com

What kind of mosaics do you make?
My mosaic work is continually evolving. Currently, I'm focusing on intricate glass mosaic jewelry, tile spiritual altars, and tile and rock wall pieces. I've moving more and more toward what I call a "peaceful" mosaic style.

When did you start making mosaics?
I think it was about eight years ago. I took a beginning mosaics class taught by Sheryl Tuorila at the old Clay Squared to Infinity location. And prior to that, I had taken an assemblage class with the lovely Mimi Holmes.

How did you get into mosaics?
I was famished for a hands-on, non-writing (I'm a freelance copywriter by day) creative outlet and began taking various art classes. As a kid, I had loved making collage art, gathering shiny objects and using tools. As an adult, I had brief affairs with drawing, beading and pottery. Mosaics allowed me to merge it all. It was love at first break!

What inspires you?
Patterns in nature. Architecture. Great writing. Other artist-moms. The seekers.

How did you develop your style?
Hmmmm, I'm still striving for a style. Once I think I'm there, my work morphs and evolves, and I get distracted by another direction I simply MUST explore.

How did you learn to make mosaics?
A few classes and a lot of practice, band-aids and late nights. I'll never stop learning.

How do you work best?
In my home studio, listening to NPR, kids in bed ... and some good chocolate and my dog by my side for company.

How do you approach a mosaic?
As a possibility! I rarely sketch anything first. Instead, I gather my supplies and start piecing the puzzle together, arranging and rearranging, until I'm ready to glue. I have to touch my materials and feel how they'll work together. The design is in my hands not my head.

What do you do with your mosaics once you finish?
I've sold many at various non-juried shows over the years and had commissions. I've had my work in a few local stores, but not currently. I store the rest in my studio, until my next show.

What have you learned?
That getting discouraged gets me nowhere, and that I don't give up easily.

How do you fit mosaics into your personal/family life?
I have three school-aged kids, and my husband and I are both self-employed; finances are tight. Thus, my professional copywriting work trumps my mosaic time. I mosaic when my writing workload is slow or at night or on the weekends. My husband (who is in the creative field as a graphic designer and professional voice talent) is tremendously supportive, as are my kids (most of the time).

Where do you work?
In my basement studio, which just moved from a former cellar to a larger, open space. Hurray! But I still contend with centipedes and bad lighting. My dream: a studio on top of the garage flooded with natural light.

What is your favorite thing about working with mosaics?
1.) The quiet. 2.) Shedding my worries by making lovely objects that other people actual want to own. What a thrill, thrill, thrill!

Have you ever done public art, community art, worked with children, etc...?
Yes, last spring I completed a two-story interior installation at Kenwood Elementary School in Minneapolis. It's made entirely from tile, school supplies, and hand-made ceramic leaves that the students made. It's super cool, and I still can't believe I pulled it off.