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Glass and Grout Mosaics

Susan Altman

Mosaics and upcycled artwork

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art by somerville artistSusanAltman titledCanyon Dawn
Canyon Dawn Mosaic 4 x 12"
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Events 2024

  • Open Studios (May 4+5, 12-6pm)
    Map#75 Vernon Street Studios
    6 Vernon Street #53  
    [Not reported as Accessible]
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Artist's Statement

Susan makes mosaics and structural art, especially from discarded materials. She loves colors and building things, and likes her art to serve a function. A passionate environmentalist, she incorporates discarded and used materials into her work whenever possible: wood from construction projects, pots and pans, broken pottery, keys and hardware, discarded furniture, bottle caps, rocks, seashells, and once-loved toys. She makes wall hangings, free-standing sculptures, stepping stones and garden ornaments, and jewelry.
 
Susan finds joy in bringing art and community together. She has developed and produced multiple public art projects, including most recently a 13-part mosaic, called "Over the Rainbow", installed on an exterior wall of Medford High School.  This mosaic brought together more than a hundred young people and adults, with the three main panels designed by high school art students. Susan also coordinated a 7 x 12 foot wall mosaic created by almost six hundred K-5 students in Medford over two weeks; a mixed-media wall piece designed and built by several middle-school students, a mosaic wall piece created by four families working together over four sessions, a utility switchbox mosaic, a bench to honor the retiring head of a preschool and mosaiced largely by preschool students, and a series of six stepping stones celebrating local native trees for installation in a public park in early 2022.

Susan is a board member of Arts Collaborative Medford, a newly built-out ten-thousand square foot community arts center that opened this winter and includes a large gallery, studios, performance and event space, and classrooms (www.artscollabmedford.org). Previously she served as a director of ArtsMedford, an organization to support local artists. During that time she organized and facilitated many projects and events, prominently among them MARV the Medford Arts Resource Vehicle, which was launched in 2017 to bring art into local communities and served the community at over one hundred events through 2020. 

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