A Mad Tea Party Installation

Artist Bio Born in rural Scotland in 1948 Doreen no matter where she found herself on her oftentimes tumultuous path never strayed too far from her undeniable need to experiment and create art in its many forms where she found some of her rewarding and happiest times. Now at 71, she is currently living in Belgium. From 2006 she has been working on a series of mosaics titled, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in a style known in mosaicing circles as ‘painting with glass.’ With her painstaking and gorgeous attention to detail, she turns to childhood literature to captivate and remind us to relax and explore the power of imagination. Artist Statement Born in rural Scotland in 1948 I happily spent my childhood exploring and connecting with nature. I am currently living in beautiful Belgium. “Today’s kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world,” says child advocacy expert Richard Louv and author of ‘Last Child in the Woods.’ Through my art I want to reacquaint our children and ourselves with nature and the power of imagination. Adding imagination to our lives liberates us from many of our limitations. In 2006 I was introduced to the ancient art of mosaics. After extensive research of techniques and materials, I gravitated to a Venetian glass called ‘smalti.’ Drawn to its luminosity, texture and vivid colors, I began using the Direct Method to assemble an image, the technique of cutting, laying and gluing the tesserae directly onto a substrate. Combining my nostalgia for the past, my fascination with nature, my painstaking and instinctual attention to detail and the challenge of making each piece work towards the complete work, I ignited a newfound passion and experienced instant success. Eager to keep my momentum of success I began to investigate the themes of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland one of the most celebrated books of all time and one of my personal favorites. My intent is to finish the series by 2020 which will be the 155th anniversary of this literary masterpiece, to maintain my level of commitment and desire and in doing so continue to delight my audience from beginning to end. My vision to lend a fresh contemporary approach to the characters without losing the feel of time and place, present a colorful fantasy in keeping with the authors original intent.