Boca Raton artist Ellen Burr spent three months creating the biggest mosaic of her career.
Ellen started making mosaics six years ago after taking a class in Provence, France.
“I was kind of a frustrated artist,” she said. “I didn’t have a medium, but I knew I wanted to create. I was always looking for that passion and mosaics clicked.”
Mosaics are one of the oldest artforms, with some dating back almost 5,000 years. They’re made by arranging tiles, glass, stone or other materials into patterns that are held together with glue and grout.
They’re time-consuming and meditative, which Ellen likes. She normally works on 12- by 12-inch panels, but the mural for #1674, Boca Raton, Florida, is made of four 4-foot-square panels.
The mural is inspired by the ocean, flora, fun and colors of the area, but it’s more abstract than some of her earlier work. Ellen named it “Currents” because it’s meant to represent how different currents affect and flow through our daily lives. She used glass, tile, shells and other small items, and mixed mosaic styles to create the piece’s overall flow. The best part, she said, was “having fun with the colors of nature.”
To meet the deadline, Ellen taught the basics to a few interested friends and art students from nearby Florida Atlantic University, and they each contributed a little time.
“I really liked working at a larger scale even more than I expected,” Ellen said. “I enjoyed honing my skills and getting other people involved. I already have my next mosaic in my head, and I think it will be much larger than my usual 12-inch square!”
