Tracy continued the practice of infusing art into all areas of her life as she started a family of her own. Tracy's house and garden are full of her creations. As the children grew, Tracy studied quilting, ceramics, drawing, painting and sculpture at the local junior college and civic arts department. Her children provide designs and inspiration and collaborate with and work alongside their mother. Tracy's interest in mosaics and sculpture flourished after she started taking classes at IMA in 2005. After two years of sharing what she has learned with students at IMA's Friday Lab and continuing her own study of mosaics, Tracy is excited to expand her teaching time at The Institute of Mosaic Art.

Educated in Russia, Dmitry holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Tashkent Art Institute. This intensive training exposed him to a broad range of artistic styles, building on a strong foundation in classical Western European art traditions with stylistic infusions from Asia Minor. Ever graceful, Dmitry's work combines Nature motifs with modern abstraction in art works that are spare yet sophisticated, playful yet elegant. He uses mixed media and blends ancient Byzantine mosaic techniques with stained glass, mural painting and relief components in pieces that are visually stunning, strongly sculptural, and surprisingly practical.

Dmitry views public art as a mirror that reflects the attributes of each individual site, enhancing its public use and enjoyment. Dmitry's sculptures are inspired from forms in Nature such as mountains, water, trees and animals. His mosaic paintings often express archetypal cultural myths, such as Romeo and Juliet, the clown, the archer, or the eternal garden of life. For Dmitry, art is a multi-dimensional poem expressing the feelings of people and the feel of place.

While living in Russia, Dmitry primarily worked on large-scale public art works. Since immigrating to the Bay Area, Dmitry has combined artwork with teaching. He has created art for community projects, commercial offices, schools and a church as well as for private collectors. He instructs adults in a variety of art forms such as mosaic, wire sculpture, ceramics, painting and collage. His strongest enthusiasm is reserved for public space sculptures and mosaics, and he continually seeks new venues to enhance with his environmentally sensitive art.

Long-attracted to mosaic art and needing an additional creative outlet, she began making mosaics after studying extensively at the Institute of Mosaic Art. She has studied under and apprenticed with several mosaic masters in California. Her style is characterized by a love of color and spiraling forms and she specializes in ceramic tile and glass mosaic. Nadia has completed architectural mosaic installations, and site specific projects for private homes and businesses.

She lives in Oakland, teaches mosaics at IMA and is currently studying salsa dance.

Erin is an avid artist who discovered mosaics after a lifetime of painting. After taking classes at Institute of Mosaic Art, she has been so enthralled with glass that she has rarely picked up a paint brush since. She has shown her mosaic work throughout the Bay Area, worked on private commissions, and worked with Laurel True on community-based mosaic art projects in Kenya and Haiti.

Websites:
http://mosaicaday.blogspot.com
http://www.minervamosaics.com

Jim started his career in 1989 as a graphic designer for Words&Pictures Inc., a creative marketing communication firm. By 1991, he was co-owner and Principal Creative Officer of the firm. In 2000, he joined the Chicago advertising agency FCB (Fooote, Cone & Belding.) As an Associate Creative Director, Jim's worked on a variety of clients, including Kraft, Boeing, SCJohnson, Brookfield Zoo and John Deere.

Jim Bachor's fervor for mosaic art was born in 1998 when he first traveled to Europe and enveloped himself in the culture of London, Rome and Paris. Then for two months in 1999, Jim rented a house in Rome, exploring the ancient sites of the city and surrounding countyside.

Inspired to learn more about his newly found infatuation, later that same year Jim went back to Italy and took classes in Ravenna on the demanding and meticulous art form. During subsequent archaeology-based trips to Greece, Turkey and even a dig in Pompeii, he was amazed by the various examples of the 2,000 year-old art buried deep in the ground. As the color of marble and glass doesn't fade, the mosaics look exactly as intended by the artist who originally produced them.

Jim has adapted this ancient art form to contemporary American life, capturing everyday scenes in a way that, centuries from now, will open a window onto life in the 21st century. To see his works visit: bachor.com

Resourcefulness was learned early and using what was at hand seemed natural being the daughter of a high school agriculture teacher.

As her life unfolded, there was a party planning business, a catering business, a retail store, and most recently, design clients who avail themselves of many ideas from exterior house colors to actual rug making for the exact color and size required. Oh, what about the four husbands before the age of forty?
What was that '64 Pink Thunderbird about?
Why California at the age of nineteen?

Life is an art. Art is her life.
It's all about design.
It's all about color.
It's all about creativity.

Her personal art has been exhibited at many shows, galleries, and Open Studios. Collectors are scattered around the planet with New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Paris, London and Montpelier, Vermont among some of the locations.

The form of the art has been paintings, ceramics, jewelry, weaving, mail art, rubber stamp art,color xerox art, collage, fabric dolls, hand-painted silk, Dada performances, publication of a Dada Daily for several years, performance art, dioramas and last but not least: mosaics.

Personally, Madeline loves to share stories, resources and ideas. Her teaching manner is gentle, encouraging and honed to the individual with a liberal amount of "Follow your heart" lessons added.

Students are encouraged to trust their inner art voice and will be shown how seemingly disparate items can work together.

In 1987 she set up Mosaic Workshop, the UK's biggest mosaic studio, making new and original work for clients as diverse as Westminster Cathedral, the Sultan of Oman and the Spice Girls.

She has written a number of books on mosaic, amongst which is the best selling Encyclopaedia of Mosaic Techniques. She is senior mosaic tutor at West Dean College.

Her work combines a strong design sense, with a passionate interest in history and the community. Her recent work Made in England is testament to this enthusiasm, and was created for the internationally renowned collection of industrial ceramics ™ the Potteries Museum, in Stoke-on-Trent.

In addition to her mosaic making, Emma makes collaborative paintings with her husband, the artist and critic Matthew Collings. Their work is in national and international collections, and was shown at Basel Art Fair earlier this year.

Emma exhibits her fine art widely and lectures internationally on the subject of mosaics.

For more info on Emma Biggs:
http://www.mosaicworkshop.com
http://www.made-in-england.net
http://www.emmabiggsmosaic.net

California sites in the last 5 years include: Frank Ogawa Plaza, City Hall Oakland Huntington Beach California, Four major plazas, BART Millbrae Light-Rail Station, San Francisco Airport, Redding, Mayor's Plaza; Turlock, Downtown Renoivation Sacramento, New Juvenile Justice Center, Sacramento Zoo, Carol Miller Justice Center and Meadowview Light-Rail Station Additionally, Donna has shown her work in many museum and gallery exhibitions.

As a child growing up in Russia, Irina created collages from pieces of broken glass found in the street, rocks, paper, seashells, and bits of crockery, even before she knew her creations were called mosaics. Through the years she experimented with various media for artistic expression but has now returned to her origin - mosaics. This medium gives her a chance to explore color, shape, pattern, and texture, and to satisfy the passion to integrate unrelated small bits of material into a single work of art.

Irina is a self-taught mosaicist. In addition to traditional mosaic tesserae she incorporates unusual materials in her work - mirror, pebbles, found objects, beads, buttons, wire, handmade ceramic pieces, and broken plates. She never returns home empty handed from a walk on the beach or a trip. Beach glass, pebbles from a path on Hampstead Heath, a bit of bone from the shore are special little bits that are inserted into each mosaic to give it a special, personal meaning.

Irina has created commissioned mosaic panels, mirrors, decorative objects, and murals for private clients and shows her work nationally. She is a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists and received the prestigious Members Choice Award during the exhibition Opus Veritas at the Museo Italo-Americano in San Francisco in 2004.

Lynne was recognized as 'Best In Show'; Mosaic Arts International 2009, an international juried exhibition of contemporary mosaic art, and was honored with 'Finalist; for Fine Mosaic Technique and Originality of Expression' in the coveted Orsoni Prize 2007, International Award for Mosaic Fine Art. Within this ancient art form, Lynne believes in using the finest materials such as vitreous glass, smalti, marble, natural stone, Millefiori, and shell, in conjunction with the most up-to-date installation tools, products and techniques to create her surprisingly modern and enduring works of art. Lately, Lynne has been fascinated with the idea of making large-scale glass and stone mosaics that appear light and airy. To that end she conceived of the idea of depicting rough-hewn handmade cloth with all of its imperfections lightly draped and billowing as if blowing in the wind.

Using a mostly monochromatic color scheme she works to create a visually pleasing and exciting andamento, keeping motion and texture in mind. As the hard-edged, unforgiving tesserae undulate over the soft folds of 'fabric' they sparkle and dance creating gentle highlights and shadows.

Her inspired fine art mosaics are represented in private homes and in public places all over the United States, Australia and Canada.

Sophie teaches mosaic throughout North America, at her home in Canada as well as in the US, where she has taught in Miami, Oakland, Chicago, Boston, San Diego, and Charlotte. She is a member the Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA), the British association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM) and the International Association of Contemporary Mosaicists (AIMC). She has exhibited at SAMA's MAI exhibitions every year since joining the group.

Dot moved to Sacramento, CA in 2001 by way of Houston, TX and Louisiana. She started doing mosaics in her early teens becoming seriously involved in the medium in 2000. She has worked with metal casting/jewelry making and glass fusing, experience gained from taking art classes at the American River College, as well as basic ceramics, which she would love to explore further. Dot has also studied with other mosaic artists and sculptors.

Dot is a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA) and the owner of the Mosaic California Yahoo group.

http://www.ebsqart.com/Artists/cmd_3484_profile_portfolio.htm

Sonia creates one-of-a-kind, contemporary mosaics for gallery, architectural, community and home settings. Mosaics are produced using the finest materials gathered from sources around the world: smalti, gold, marble, vitreous glass, ceramic and more. She recently completed four large mosaic walls for Children's Medical Center of Dallas that were featured on the cover of Healthcare Design magazine. Sonia's award-winning art is exhibited both nationally and internationally and is represented in private, public and corporate collections.

Fortunate to have an extensive travel background, Sonia has visited ancient mosaic sites and studied with modern mosaic artists around the world. She is a founding member and past President of the Society of American Mosaic Artists as well as instructor in mosaics at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas. Sonia has been granted membership and serves as a director of the Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei (AIMC) in Ravenna, Italy. She has spoken on mosaic art in England, France, Australia and Brazil and teaches advanced classes internationally. Sonia was featured on HGTV's popular show, Modern Masters, and her art has been included in numerous mosaic books. She is the author of the Sterling Publishing book "Mosaic Techniques & Traditions" and is currently writing "Mosaic Master Class: The Advanced Techniques".

IMA's Business of Mosaic class cinched Kelley's decision to make mosaics her second career, and helped narrow her focus to architectural applications. After a solid year of studying mosaic technique and installation with professionals across the U.S., in 2006 she founded her Seattle studio, Rivenworks Mosaics, from which she designs, fabricates and installs custom architectural mosaics for residential, commercial, and public art clients.

Kelley creates mosaics in many mediums for architectural clients, but in her personal work she returns again and again to glass for exploration and play. The visual (and literal) depth and light-handling properties of glass, as well as its seemingly limitless palette of colors, offer up endless possibilities for dimensional shenanigans. Out of those explorations Kelley has developed three signature glass mosaic techniques: Texture Field, which utilizes multiple textures of clear architectural glass to create a field of texture; Flat Stacking, in which multiple layers of translucent glass is stacked over itself on a mirrored or clear glass substrate, and Edge Stacking, in which glass strips of varying heights are set on edge.

Kelley's fine art panels in stacked and textured glass have been accepted to national and international juried exhibitions, and many reside in private collections. She is an active member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, and regularly teaches sessions on stacked and textured glass mosaic techniques.

A selected body of Kelley's work can be viewed at www.rivenworksmosaics.com.

Michael's work can be viewed at www.mkmosaics.com.

"My mixed-media mosaics have been included in many group shows and galleries and I have commissioned pieces in private collections. My work has also been published in magazines, Expressions and Somerset Studio and in books, 400 Polymer Clay Designs, Mosaic Art and Style and New Techniques for Wearable Art. I was featured on both HGTV's, Crafter's Coast to Coast and on DIY networks, Craft Lab. I also have my own book being published by North Light Books called, Mixed Media Mosaics, due to be released in July, 2007."

For more information: http://www.mikaarts.com.

Pippa was educated at Columbia University in New York where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree as a dual major in Visual Arts and Art History in May of 1996, Cum Laude. Specializing in Greco-Roman mosaic technique and design, she achieved a Masters in Science in Classical Archeology by Research from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in May of 1998, with distinction. She received her Masters of Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts, formerly the California College of Arts and Crafts, in May of 2005.

Pippa maintains her studio in Sausalito, CA.

She has exhibited in the Society of American Mosaic Artists Mosaic Arts International juried exhibition nine times, and was a SAMA board member and conference panelist from 2006 - 2008. Her mosaics have been included in many juried shows throughout the US. She has won Juror's Choice for Night Shirt in the 2009 Mosaic Arts International in San Diego and Members' Choice for L'Ambasciatrice in the 2007 MAI in Mesa, AZ. In September 2009, Night Shirt was awarded the international mosaic fine art Grand Prize from Orsoni Smalti Veneziani. As part of the award, Orsoni displayed Night Shirt in the company's Venice headquarters for three months.

Carol, having a successful career in painting and pottery, has been accepting commissions with mosaic work as well as being invited to show her work worldwide. She has won many honors and awards including works at Ciel Gallery, N.C. with Maestro Giulio Menossi, Italy, honoring her mosaic. Her mosaic portrait, In A Village has been displayed at The Museum of Man, San Diego during Mosaic Arts International 2009 after one year of mosaic experience. She was invited to display another portrait Fabulous Hair during Mosaic Arts International 2010 at Smith Museum of Stained Glass, Chicago, Ill., and was honored again to have another portrait on exhibition at Mosaic Arts International 2011 in Austin, Texas.

The dominant influence on Carol's work would be the simple joy of living. She is a member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, British Association of Mosaic Artists, Philadelphia Magic Gardens, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia Art Museum and a Juried member of The Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.

For more information on Laurel Skye go to: http://homepage.mac.com/laurelskye/Menu21.html

Brent has been commissioned to build several large scale sculptures including a 12 foot Dolphin for a site at a festival, and a 30 foot floatable whale for a perfomance in Doubtless Bay, New Zealand.

Brent developed the architectural sculpting compound darjit, as a sculpting medium. Darjit is made from recycled paper and a by-product from clay mining. The development of darjit influenced his approach to sculpture building as it is lightweight and very versatile. A wide variety of effects and fine detailing can be achieved using darjit.

In 2002 Brent formed the company Alchymia Ltd to develop and produce Darjit and wood-fired ovens. His ovens are a beautifully sculpted and integrate outdoor kitchen and entertaining areas as aesthetic sculpted works of art.

Brent has since been commissioned to build several large scale sculptures, using darjit and steel for entrance ways, stand alone art pieces, and installations for art shows and exhibitions.

His commissioned works also include: "Dragon gate": an entrance with two large dragon-entwined columns, framing an intricate steel gate.

He has created several sculpted "walls" that organize and enhance outdoor living space, these walls incorporate fountains, plantings, intricate lighting, fireplaces and intermit communication areas.

Other works include: a series of Nikau palm trees, which stand at the entrance for a sculpture park/art gallery in Taupo, New Zealand, and large vertical garden sculptures, for the Live Artists at work event, also in Taupo.

Brent tutors sculpture workshops, using darjit on steel skeletal forms in both New Zealand and Australia.

For more info on Brent and Darjit: www.woodfiredovens.co.nz or www.sculptureparty.com.

True has been creating public mosaics and facilitating community mosaic projects for almost 20 years and has helped to provide job training and arts education to under served communities in urban environments and developing areas. She has created hundreds of projects over the years, working with volunteers, assistants, students, trades people and artists of all ages on projects that reflect a sense of community pride and cultural significance in the locations where they are sited.

True's public and commissioned work, created through True Mosaics Studio, can be found in private and civic collections as well as in hospitals, in parks, on commercial buildings across the United States. Her visionary fine artwork has been exhibited nationally. She has been featured in many books and publications as well as appearing numerous times in local and national press and in the entertainment industry as a featured artist, mosaic expert, and instructor.

True has been known to create work that spontaneously emerges graffiti- like on concrete walls, in unexpected settings and materials- many times through spontaneous community participation.

Her community projects have been focused in West and East Africa, Oakland and New Orleans, where she not only works to encourage artistic expression through community mosaic making, but also helps to foster entrepreneurship, passing on skills that are economically viable.

Please visit her website at www.truemosaics.com.

"In 1959 when I was 19 years old I was introduced to the folk art environment of Clarence Schmidt, My Mirrored Hope, Woodstock, NY USA. Soon after in 1960 there was a groundbreaking exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, NY USA. Because that exhibition included assemblages of artists like Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, Curt Schwitters, Antonio Gaudi along side of untrained brickaleurs Clarence Schmit, Simon Rodia and Joseph Ferdinand Cheval that gave me as a trained artist the rationale to include their concepts as manifestations of fine art. At a crucial time in my life it allowed me to begin what could be called a life's work making the city of Philadelphia PA USA into a labyrinthine mosaic museum that incorporates all my varied knowledge and skills."
http://www.isaiahzagar.org/about.html

Her completely unique and original style has been collected by the Corning Museum of Glass in NY, The Renwick Museum of The Smithsonain Institute in Washington, DC, The Pilchuck Collection in Washington State,The Oakland Museum, and the San Francisco Pacific Gas and Electric Executive office building among others.

Dana Zed has been published frequently in the United States and also in Germany and Japan. She shows throughout the U.S. and is represented in San Francisco by Ruth Braunstein of Braunstein/Quay Gallery. Her work can be seen there or on her website: danazed.com.

Zed teaches regularly at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. Esalen has permanently installed three of Dana's sculpture on their grounds.

Dana Zed has created architectural glass for August Co. for four homes in the Oakland hills; one of which was published in the magazine “New Beautiful Homes”.

Dana has recieved awards from the Gerbode Foundation, The San Francisco Bay Guardian and Pilchuck Glass School.