My First Mosaic –
I kind of fell into mosaic by accident. I’d lived here in France on the Swiss border close to Geneva for three years. As a total introvert with no children, who despite my best efforts still couldn’t have a conversation in French, it was a bit of a challenge to meet new people. I came here with my now husband when the company he worked for relocated their head office to Geneva.
As an introvert, I was very happy with my hermit lifestyle in the countryside. My husband and I knew one couple from his work who lived nearby with whom we’d socialise on a Friday or Saturday night, and that was enough for me. I’d always been the person who has a very small group of very close friends, rather than a big group of acquaintances, and I had Skype, so was in constant contact with my close friends back in the UK.
I was in the local health food shop one day, run by an Englishman (one of the few people I spoke to in the area, and he asked if I’d be interested in helping out an English family whose mother had come on holiday and fell and broken her leg. They’s been unable to find an English speaking person to go in an be with her whilst they were out at work. He knew I didn’t work and thought I might be the right person for the job.
It turned out I was and the family remain great friends ten years later. It was through this one connection that I slowly began to meet people in the area, a friend of hers came to help us out with our garden, a friend of hers wanted some help with her dog. This friend became another close friend and one day asked if I’d like to go along to a mosaic class she’d been attending.
I didn’t really know what to expect. I’m not very artistic (my sister is ‘the arty one,’) but I thought I’d give it a go, didn’t have anything to lose.
Along I went with slight trepidation, wondering whether I’d be able to cut the tiles? Whether the other woman would be friendly? Whether the homemade cake would be as lush as my friend had said it would, would I be accepted? Etc etc etc.
I needn’t have been concerned. The teacher, Helen Price was completely reassuring, giving me clear instruction about the history, theory and practise of mosaic. The other women were all friendly and welcoming, and the cake was indeed lush! Cutting the tile wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had envisioned and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
I kept going back to the weekly class, and despite being an introvert really enjoyed the company and camaraderie of the ladies in the group. I didn’t realise how much I’d missed the company of women until I got to spend regular time with them. We sometimes went for coffees and even had a couple of day trips to Paris to visit a mosaic supplies store. There was something very therapeutic about doing something creative in a group setting, whilst laughing, putting the world to rights and eating cake. I was greatly inspired by both my teacher and the other women in the room.
To begin with, it really was the chat, coffee and cake which kept me going back each week. The mosaic making was kind of a bonus. I LOVED the colours of the tiles, and was inspired by everybody’s different ideas and how we all produced such different pieces whilst using the same materials. I didn’t realise just how therapeutic and meditative the mosaic making itself was until much later.