“After working carefully, quietly for many years as a textile and graphic
designer in Paris, New York and Sydney, I found that noisy plate breaking
is my passion. Now everyday I smash and cut old plates, unglazed ceramics,
shiny glass tiles, stone & marble, Venetian smalti, Mexican gold and
silver mirrors. Then I glue all the fragments together to create original
mosaic pieces of all kinds and shapes... and I love it.”
Living in France for 30 years, the colours, textures and rhythms of the Mediterranean region shaped Sophie Verrechia and her work. When she moved to Australia, 15 years ago, the dry, wide-open spaces and the tropical rainforests added many layers of richness to her image making.
Sophie’s influences are drawn from her past working experience as an illustrator, graphic designer and textile designer. “Often when I’m placing each small piece of glass next to another, I’m reminded of my embroidery making. It feels right”.
Her progression from using photos and prints of all kinds to make collages,
and substituting paper for ceramics
was natural.
These days, Sophie finds most of her materials in op-shops, rubbish tips and recycling centres around the city and countryside. She salvages disused objects including second-hand ceramics which inspire her to reuse them in her own original mosaic creations.
Mosaic Painting
“Some people do watercolour paintings. Some do oil paintings. I do ‘tile paintings’. I paint with tiles. Each broken piece of ceramic and glass is a brush stroke like a mark on the canvas.
“The tile stroke can be tiny or large or thin or square or round, just like different paintbrush strokes. The diverse surface textures of the materials create more interest and relief in the same way that a painter uses different thicknesses of paint or various tools to apply the paint to create variety and a range of effects.
“In terms of colour, everything is possible.
Like a painter, I have a palette; mine consists of tiles, plates, ceramics, glass and pottery of every imaginable colour.
“Usually, I find my materials in tile shops and second-hand shops around the countryside and the world. I love looking for treasures at recycle centres. If I cannot find exactly what I want, I will actually make my
own ceramic tile, paint, fire and use it in the design.
“Sometimes I use found objects such as rusty industrial bits of metal, kitsch statuettes, rocks and feathers, odd bits and pieces become part of the mosaic.
This gives a three-dimensionality to the painting.
“The artwork compositions are mostly abstract ones. They evoke images of
landscapes and fields seen from above and far away. They sometimes are mixed with close ups: suggestions of macro- and microcosms of the natural world. The process grows as each fragment is placed on my ‘canvas’.
“I get a huge satisfaction working on these ‘Paintings’. I use materials
I love in ways that feel right. Broken pieces of ceramics are my medium. Mosaic work is my passion. I see it as an artistic form, an expression that is centuries old and still transforming into infinite possibilities of exploration and creativity.”
