Family First Presented by Novant Health: Crafting Mosaics - An Art-Making Workshop with Lillian Blades

Due to popular demand, we've added a second session at 1:30 PM!

Mosaic is the art of crafting images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, and other materials. Inspired by her exhibition, Lillian Blades: Mirrors of Life, the artist will lead participants through the process of constructing paper mosaics by first creating collages and then painting their own abstract compositions. Considering color, texture, pattern and movement, guests will combine their original works of art with found objects – supplied by the artist – to fashion a 3D masterpiece!

About The Artist

Born in Nassau, Bahamas, and currently a resident of Atlanta, Lillian Blades is both a public and studio artist. Blades' assemblage work reflects the improvisational compositions, colors and patterns of quilts and the textural qualities of memorial art. Her inspirations are rooted in ancestral and matriarchal visual traditions. Blades completed a BFA in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah Campus and a MFA in Painting at Georgia State University.

In addition, Lillian has studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and Caversham in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Her work appears throughout the United States, as well as The Bahamas, Trinidad, Germany and South Africa. Her public commissions include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Jean Childs Young Middle School. As a public artist she enjoys collaborating with other artists and groups on large-scale assemblages such as The East Atlanta Library. Her artwork is also in the collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art and the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas.

Blades was the 2016 Visual Artist awardee for The National Black Arts Festival. She also received an Award of Excellence in Visual Arts by The Bahamas Consulate in 2016.

Family First is generously sponsored by: