Intersections: An International Mosaic Arts and Education Symposium
From September 15 to 21, 2025, CMS will host the 1st International Mosaic Arts Symposium to celebrate their 20th anniversary, remaining the only art school of its kind outside of Europe. Intersections Symposium will serve as a round-table for shaping the future of Mosaic Arts education and engaging international artists. CMS Visiting Artists, who are both leaders and renowned experts in mosaic art and education, will conduct short workshops, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions in Chicago.
The Details:
Gallery Exhibitions
Opening and Closing Receptions
Tours showcasing public mosaics in Chicago
Workshops run by acclaimed visiting artists
Public discussions and lectures including
All of our workshops and activities below can be purchased A La Carte, or you can purchase in ONE BUNDLED PACKAGE
Workshops
Is there a difference between a general mosaic artwork and a large scale architectural mosaic?
Should the location of a wall or floor mosaic influence its design?
Can the design environment surrounding a mosaic installation help or hinder the design intentions of the artist?
What approaches to design can we take to ensure a successful architectural mosaic?
These are just some of the questions raised in this workshop which will look at the relationship of the mosaic to it’s environment. Focusing on all aspects of the design phase and using real commission examples Gary will address some of the fundamental questions behind the Site-Specific mosaic.
In this workshop we will recognize the fuga/interstices as an essential part of the mosaic language. Students will find irregularly cut and unique tesserae and embed them on a white surface using the indirect method. The way of working will open up new possibilities and effects for mosaic making.
Talking about shapes, light and shadow.
The relationship between lightness, darkness, and how shapes and silhouettes can send an image to the mind which immediately discovers it and assimilates it to something it knows and recognizes.
The first fundamental thing for the success of the project is jazz music.
Using a strong light source, shadows will be projected on a light surface, like Chinese puppetry shadows. Then, following the rhythm of the music, participants will construct the mosaic shapes created with the light, deciding whether to work with a dark color on a light background or vice versa.
Direct method using stones, rocks, glass, and other elements.
the first examples of pictorial representations made by man are silhouettes, forms that reproduce animals and men themselves in various attitudes. a few millennia later, when painting evolves, mosaics start from those images, from those forms.
At the beginnig of mosaic history we can find pebble mosaics made in geometrical patterns or in shapes, silouettes….:
In this one-day workshop with Australian artist Pamela Irving, participants will learn to use paper collage techniques as a novel approach to art-making and mosaic. Pamela approaches collage sculpturally, using cardboard, objects, papers, old books, etc. Collage does not need to be flat; it can jump out from a surface. Collage is an excellent way to create new stories from discarded papers, tickets, travel mementos, books, and other forms of ephemera.
Students are encouraged to bring along their bits of inspiration…“you know, that stuff you’ve been hoarding in the junk drawer but didn’t want to throw out.” Bring it along, and Pamela will guide you in assembling it and giving it new form and life through an original art piece.
When we create a mosaic, we generally focus all our attention on the tesserae: shape, color, andamenti… but… mosaic is also made of the gap between the tesserae, the fuga/interstice! This workshop, led by Italian artist Carolina Zanelli, would like to focus on this aspect of mosaic: the consideration of fuga as the absence of tesserae- what can we discover in this approach? Students will work with pencils and colored paper, and they will share images and reflections, discussions, and new inspiration!
This one-day workshop with Dugald MacInnes enables students of all levels an introduction to Scottish slate. This lush and earthy material will be explored through a series of short exercises that will show its great potential in mosaic compositions. Cutting and design will be addressed in this short but intense workshop.
In this half-day workshop, artist Sue Giannotti will cover a key segment— Value—from her long-standing Design Fundamentals Workshop. Value is one of the key elements in design for any medium—and especially mosaics. This lively workshop is perfect for everyone—from students new to mosaics to alumni of the Design Fundamentals class—who’d like to experience this concept in new, fun exercises across different media.
Sue has been passionate about Value’s place in mosaic and has been teaching it for nearly 20 years, sharing its effects, magic and challenges with others. Join her for an energetic class, packed with fresh experiments that will help you understand and incorporate Value into your mosaics.