Article & Photos by Philip S. Schmidt
 | The 2015 Railway City Arts Crawl in St. Thomas was nothing short of an adventure. For two days, over 40 artists showcased their works in a dozen venues located throughout 'The Railway City.' The idea was to visit all 12 venues and get your Arts Crawl passport stamped in each location, so that you would qualify for special prizes. Well … |
My wife Jackie worked at the LHSC on February 27th, the opening night of the Arts Crawl, and thus our Honda Fit was spoken for. Which left just six hours on Saturday, February 28th to check out all the artists in all the venues, and get my passport validated to boot. So I decided to 'put the hammer down' and spend only a certain amount of time in each venue.
Yeah right. Good luck with THAT.....
Especially when artists as imaginative as Melanie Cummings of Mosaicgirl jewellery were part of the Arts Crawl. I walked into the L&PS Station and got stopped in my tracks by a stained glass mosaic created by Melanie … An eye-popping piece entitled 'Red Bird In Birch.'
Yeah right. Good luck with THAT.....
Especially when artists as imaginative as Melanie Cummings of Mosaicgirl jewellery were part of the Arts Crawl. I walked into the L&PS Station and got stopped in my tracks by a stained glass mosaic created by Melanie … An eye-popping piece entitled 'Red Bird In Birch.'
Above: Photo & Layout by Philip S. Schmidt
She explained how she utilized tile adhesive to fashion the mosaic with stained glass sections.
What struck me was how cleverly she implemented geometry into her piece. I loved how the birch trees ran perpendicular to the ground, while the trees' branches cut across the scene at various angles, gently guiding my eye through the 'woods' until they rested on the enchanting red bird with its gentle curves and arcs.
It was all so minimalist, so simple, so … Spellbinding.
I asked Melanie if I could take a picture of her with 'Red Bird In Birch,' and her delightful daughter Ciara joined her mom for the photo op. The astute observers among you will notice that Ciara is in fact holding up the top of the frame with her outstretched hands. <chuckle>
Anyway, I did manage to get passport stamps from all the Arts Crawl venues … But just barely, and no thanks to Melanie.
Sisters Melanie and Heather Cummings, are both self taught mosaic artists, and jewellery designers. Their love of using stained glass to create beautiful, timeless mosaics began with trial and error about 8 yrs ago. Always drawn to different creative outlets, their jewellery line is a fairly new endeavour. Using primarily sterling silver and gemstones, they create unique, feminine and elegant pieces, paying very close attention to craftsmanship and gem selection. (From www.railwaycityartscrawl.com)
What struck me was how cleverly she implemented geometry into her piece. I loved how the birch trees ran perpendicular to the ground, while the trees' branches cut across the scene at various angles, gently guiding my eye through the 'woods' until they rested on the enchanting red bird with its gentle curves and arcs.
It was all so minimalist, so simple, so … Spellbinding.
I asked Melanie if I could take a picture of her with 'Red Bird In Birch,' and her delightful daughter Ciara joined her mom for the photo op. The astute observers among you will notice that Ciara is in fact holding up the top of the frame with her outstretched hands. <chuckle>
Anyway, I did manage to get passport stamps from all the Arts Crawl venues … But just barely, and no thanks to Melanie.
Sisters Melanie and Heather Cummings, are both self taught mosaic artists, and jewellery designers. Their love of using stained glass to create beautiful, timeless mosaics began with trial and error about 8 yrs ago. Always drawn to different creative outlets, their jewellery line is a fairly new endeavour. Using primarily sterling silver and gemstones, they create unique, feminine and elegant pieces, paying very close attention to craftsmanship and gem selection. (From www.railwaycityartscrawl.com)
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