Irina Charny

• I was born in Russia in 1962. Even before I knew they were called mosaics I created collages from pieces of broken glass found in the street, rocks, paper, seashells, bits of crockery. Through the years I explored various media for artistic expression but have now returned to my first passion - mosaics.
• I am a self-taught mosaicist. While I appreciate the history and theory of the medium, my work builds a unique and personal art form on the base of classical mosaic. In addition to traditional mosaic tesserae I incorporate unusual materials in my work - mirror, pebbles, found objects, beads, buttons, wire, handmade ceramic pieces, and broken plates. I bring to my mosaics experience in other media - ceramics, lamp-worked glass, and polymer clay.
• I have created mosaic panels, mirrors, decorative objects, and murals and am now developing a series of 3-dimensional mosaic masks.