Margaret Almon Mosaics

Philadelphia's Jacob Reed Building

I had a few minutes before my train in Philly last week, and I was walking down Chestnut Street, and suddenly my eyes fell upon this building.  I looked up at the graceful arched doorway, and there were mosaics!  I recognized the work of Mercer's Moravian Tileworks, and wondered how they got to this street.  The building houses a CVS, but when I went across the street, I could make out an original sign for Reed's, set into mosaic medallions at the the top of the building.  Mosaic spotting is one of my favorite activities. 

When I got home, I did a search, and discovered it was the  Jacob Reed's Sons Building, built for a clothier in 1903 by local architect William Lightfoot Price.  The tiles are indeed by Mercer, and the ones inside the arch represent crafts related to clothing, including spinning and weaving.  Mercer was a great reviver of handmade tile in the United States, and visiting his home, Fonthill, for the first time was quite an experience.  Picture a cement castle, lined with tiles from all over the world, plus samples of just about every tile line Moravian Tileworks produced. 

Then I looked up WIlliam Price, and discovered that he was the founder of the Rose Valley Association, just outside of Media, PA.  I had heard of this utopian community, but didn't expect to stumble across a connection while among the many athletic shoe stores of Chestnut Street.  Rose Valley was modeled after William Morris's Arts & Crafts Movement ideals.  The houses are still there, and someday I want to see them. 

Find my work at Square Peg Artery & Salvage

It was very cool a couple weeks ago to receive a message via my Nutmeg Designs Etsy account from Jen at Square Peg Artery & Salvage asking if I would consider placing some of my mosaics at this fine craft store.  Happily, I was going to be in the area, and I brought in several pieces, and got a chance to check out the shop.  Jen and Rachel have been open about a year now, with handmade items and salvage.  The shop is near Rittenhouse square in Philadelphia.  You can either park on the street, or in the lot across from the shop. 

It's also near the  Capogiro Gelato store at 20th & Sansom, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get some of that heavenly stuff.  I had a dish with one scoop of Turkish Coffee and one of Orange Cardamom, which was delightful.  They have these plastic spoons like tiny shovels, and encourage you to save one to eat gelato with every time.  I will be looking forward to any occasion to restock my work at Square Peg!

108 S 20th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103-4410
(215) 568-8001
Get directions

In A Dream: Jeremiah Zagar's document of his father

Last week a friend took me to see In a Dream at the Ambler Theater, a documentary about Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar, made by his son Jeremiah.  Like this photo I took last summer at the Magic Gardens, this film is an intimate experience.  Jeremiah Zagar started filming his father at his mother's request, and out of over 200 hours of tape, a powerful mosaic of intense emotion and creativity emerges.  I was moved by an interview with the filmaker, where he describes filming a scene of his family disintegrating in front of his eyes, and how filming was a way to cope, "It was the same when my father and me were in the country and he was talking about the time he tried to commit suicide. If I took the camera away it was impossible to handle that idea. The camera made it less emotional and much easier to deal with." 

Isaiah Zagar talks about a counselor at the hospital, after his attempt at suicide, who said he needed to work, to put one thing next to another.  This process of one piece building on the next, the focus, the obsession, led to a magic world of mosaics in Philadelphia's South Street, more than 100 murals.  One thing next to another also led to Jeremiah Zagar's poetic and painful  images on the screen.  I am glad I had the chance to see it. 

Related Posts:

The Magic Garden of Philadelphia:  Mosaic Immersion with Isaiah Zagar

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic: A Philadelphia Treasure

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic:  Flower Detail

Phillies in Mosaic:  Jonathan Mandell

Strata: Anniversary trip to Philadelphia

 

The first full moon of April is our anniversary of being together.  I like having a floating anniversary, connected to the moon.  22 years!  We took an anniversary trip to Philadelphia to hear the Blue Note 7

at the Kimmel Center. Blue Note is celebrating 70 years as a jazz label, and 7 of their finest musicians are on tour together, with an album aptly named "Mosaic."  We enjoyed the concert, in spite of Wayne's clogged head, and my bandages from the fall I took on Tuesday(I suppose it is convenient to have been on the way to work, at a hospital, when I tripped.) 

We spent Saturday walking around Rittenhouse Square, visiting the Rosenbach Museum for the first time, and seeing Marianne Moore's Greenwich Village apartment delightfully intact within the museum.   My librarian self was thoroughly mesmerized by the Rosenbach's collection of first editions, including James Joyce's Ulysses, and the photograph of Belle Da Costa Greene, friend of Abraham Rosenbach, librarian to J.P. Morgan, passing as Portuguese to elude the prejudice she would have faced as an African American.  Quite beautiful and stylish, she's quoted as saying that although a librarian, she doesn't have to dress like one. . .I'll have to keep that in mind. 

We came across an exhibit of prints at the Philadelphia Free Library, Intaglio a Go-Go:  Etching Moves Forward.  That is where I saw Cynthia Back's Strata, 2002, aquatint, etching, deep bite, chine colle.  I love the layers, the colors and textures, and my mosaic artist self is intrigued by the tesserae-like stones.  It made me think of my 22 years with Wayne, and his also apt name, Stratz, all the layers of history, of our travels, our love.  He is my bedrock, and I am grateful what we have built together.

Phillies in Mosaic: Jonathan Mandell

A few summers ago I took a fine art mosaic class at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Jonathan Mandell. I learned how to use a tile saw, and discovered representational mosaic is not where my passion is! Of course I chose to render a scene with 4 sets of hands and feet. I admire Mandell's ability to make lively figures and scenes, and one of the coolest is at Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Phillies.

I am not very familiar with baseball, having grown up in Canada, where it is not the national past time. Edmonton acquired a minor league team, The Trappers, in 1981, when I was 14. By then I was already embittered by my complete lack of ability in softball during gym class, and couldn't understand why anyone would actually watch the sport. But now that I live in the Philadelphia Suburbs, and a couple years ago I saw my first Phillies game, and to my surprise, enjoyed it! My husband introduced me to pleasures of snacking throughout on Cracker Jack, pretzel's, and in his case, beer. I saw a new side of him when he would reflexively stand up and shout on the occasion of good plays by the Phillies. I was fascinated by the zenlike pace of play, and how I felt content to just be there. And there's a lot to like about an organization that commissioned local artists to create pieces of baseball related art for the new park.

Related Posts:

In a Dream:  Jeremiah Zagar's Document of his Father

Mosaic Immersion:  The Magic Garden

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic: A Philadelphia Treasure

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic:  Flower Detail

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic: Flower Detail

Flowers detail Tiffany mosaic IMG0056, originally uploaded by rudisillart.

Here's a larger version of this photo.

Related Post:

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic: A Philadelphia Treasure

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic: a Philadelphia Treasure

Flowers detail Tiffany mosaic IMG0056,
originally uploaded by rudisillart.

A couple of years ago, I was called to report for Federal Jury Duty in Philadelphia, and I was anxious, but it did give me the opportunity to walk over to the Curtis building during the lunch break and see the Dream Garden Mosaic, by Louis Comfort Tiffany, based on a Maxfield Parrish painting. The lobby of the Curtis building is sometimes closed on Saturdays, as I'd discovered the first time I tried to see it, so it was a delight on this weekday to sit on a bench placed directly across from the mural and absorb the grand scale, and intense colors. Composed of thousands of handcut pieces of Tiffany's own glass, it is 12x49 feet, and took 30 artisans a year to install it. I am sobered by the attempt in the late 90's, after heirs sold the mosaic to a casino owner. After complicated legal battles, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has guardianship of The Dream Garden, in trust for the people of Philadelphia. I can't even imagine dismantling such a work, unmooring its very substrate, and home. This photo is but one section of the mosaic, and yet wonderfully detailed, and glowing in iridescence.  If you are visiting Philadelphia, be sure to make a trip to The Dream Garden.

This photo on the right shows the entire mosaic to give you a sense of the scale.  But to truly experience the play of light and color, come see it in person!

Related Posts:

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic:  Flower Detail

Phillies in Mosaic:  Jonathan Mandell

The Magic Garden of Philadelphia:  Mosaic Immersion with Isaiah Zagar

In a Dream:  Jeremiah Zagar's Document of his Father

The Magic Garden: Mosaic Immersion

At our most recent craft show at the Pen Ryn School, several people had a spark of recognition that I was making something like "that guy in Philly." This is the first time I've had this comparison to the mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar, and that was very cool.

This summer for my birthday, my friend Joanne Leva Mosemann took me to Zagar's Magic Garden. She couldn't believe I had never been there--it's a pilgrimage for any mosaic artist! And once I was there, I couldn't believe I hadn't really known it was there. It is a mosaic wonderland, through the "looking glass" of glass, tile, found objects, and covers rooms, walls, and a courtyard. Zagar's work wends its way through South Philly, not without controversy, but instantly recognizable and memorable.

Joanne knew I had to see it. I met her when I was chosen to be Poet Laureate of Montgomery County in 2000. She has created a world of poetry in our county, starting single-handedly, and blooming into 10 years of bringing poetry into recognition. As I evolved into a mosaic artist, she has remained alert to the creative spark that all artists share, and all lovers of art.

Related Posts:

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic: A Philadelphia Treasure

Tiffany Dream Garden Mosaic:  Flower Detail

Phillies in Mosaic:  Jonathan Mandell

In a Dream:  Jeremiah Zagar's Document of his Father