Spring 2025 Mrs Mosaic's Round-up!
- nicola3651
- Mar 20
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 21
Discover the Art of Mosaics and Stained Glass: Spring News!
Hi Mosaic lovers!
Welcome to my new followers and thank you to everyone for following my creative mosaic journey! I want to drop you a quick update on what’s been going on with Mrs Mosaic Leigh on Sea, and to let you know some vital dates for the Spring-Summer 2025. It’s been a bit of a slow start for me as I’ve had two medical procedures in late January and last week, early March. Happy to say it all went well and I’m hoping I’ve done with the wonderful NHS for a while!
I’ve spent the first part of 2025 out and about delivering external mosaic heart workshops, first in early February back at the wonderful RHS Hyde Hall and then at Create 98 for the first time on Valentine’s Day with 10 wonderful people. Here’s two completed pieces. Thank you everyone for sending photos once they’re grouted.
Stained Glass workshops
There are only 4 dates left this Spring for my Stained Glass panel in a day. With ever-rising material costs this is the last opportunity to book at these prices before the prices rise in September. The copperfoiled mushroom classes go into up to late June, if you’re looking for a taster class.
Mosaic workshops
The regular workshops in the studio are nice and busy, with a few more beginners joining the groups. I’m now making an effort to post into my membership group photos and commentary on the regular workshops. Click the button to join, an interest is all that’s needed to see what people are making.
There are a variety of dates for mosaic workshops, from Mosaic a mirror in a day, and a smattering of 2 hour butterfly tasters on offer. This year I plan another Summer holiday shutdown. I’ve got some dreams and ideas of how the studio could be better laid out better and I’ve got some ideas of how the stained glass area can be organised so its more accessible, as there seems to be an increase in interest in this medium. There has been feedback that people would like to attend a more regular workshop in glass making and drive their own designs forward.
Whatever happens I will need to have a big clear out! Watch this space! Below are some posters with links for the workshops currently available on the website.
External workshops
I’ve got three ‘external’ butterfly workshops scheduled for the summer months. The first is on Friday 20th June. With a 10.30am start at Create 98 on the Broadway in the heart of Leigh-on-Sea. There are then sessions on July 10th at 10am at Hadleigh Old Fire Station and on the 28th August at 10am at Hyde Hall. These venues are more accessible and can accommodate more people than my studio, so if you’ve wanted to bring a few friends to a class these will work well. Click the posters below to book and for further information.
Beecroft Exhibition - till May 25
Saturday 22nd February marked the launch of ‘Into the Zone’ , is a group exhibition of artists who have explored the Thames Estuary territory from diverse but overlapping perspectives curated by my husband, Michael Upton. It was a well attended launch event alongside The Other MA student’s show, it was absolutely brilliant to see our city gallery so full of people taking in such a great collection of art work and I’m very proud of how hard he worked bringing this show together.
Estuary Festival 2025
As June approaches I am delighted to be offering my help as a volunteer to the Estuary Festival, I’ve yet to find out what my duties are, but thought it was a great opportunity to be a part of something that is precious in subject to both myself and my husband.
Besides volunteering, we both hope to have visual pieces represented at the exhibition space at Hadleigh Old Fire Station and Michael will be involved in SALT, another site specific performance piece with Arbonauts which he was a part of in the previous festival back in 2021
“Announcing Estuary 2025 - Vessels: the third edition of the largescale contemporary arts festival celebrating the stories, places and people of the Thames Estuary.
Through the theme of ‘Vessels’, Estuary 2025 looks beyond the boats and ships that move in and out of the Thames Estuary, to think about the festival itself as a vessel for creative action, exploring our complex and changing relationship to this intertidal zone.
Estuary 2025 will feature newly commissioned artworks across multiple sites and will take place 21-29 June 2025, coinciding with both spring and neap tides to offer expanded opportunities for engagement with the Thames Estuary on land and water”
Mrs Mosaic studio practice!
Life is always so busy, isn’t it?
Way too often my own art practise is shunted to the bottom of my ‘to do’ list but this year I’m working harder to prioritise this and have been emphatic about taking rest days, Sundays and Wednesdays. You can probably relate when I say it still is a struggle to get to it with fitting in enough exercise, housework! (endless!) food shopping and all the other life admin. So I’m happy to say I’ve been getting back to it and I’m going to share a few photos below of a little ‘rabbit-hole’ I explored in mosaics and mirrors.
I’ve a few other pieces I’m working on too, and I’m going to put them on the membership group pages for people to see. I’m going to be honest I find it sometimes quite a juggle between experimenting with my own mosaics which sometimes don’t always work out and often students can see them, and want to explore the same ideas. It’s is a huge compliment but I’ve not always arrived at the end part of a process and don’t feel ready to share the journey.
The other balance is between making things that have a place to be sold to collectors and just creating for my own pleasure. In recent years, I’ve felt the focus has been too often on ‘what will sell’, so this year I hope to explore more pieces that are not necessarily expected to ‘sell’ but fulfil me as an artist.
I will always welcome comments though, so please join my groups and start giving me your thoughts (keep them kind though- I’m a delicate creature!)
Before I say au revoir! I thought it would be helpful to add a picture of key dates coming up this side of September, it’s good to be organised. The first big one is outdoors at the fabulous Old Leigh Artist Market on 5th May. It is always a super chill event to mooch around, with lots of different demonstrations and an eclectic mix of art to view and purchase. Please come! I’d love to see you there. x
Comments