November 2016 ~ Cape Cod Magazine ~ "L" is for Labor of Love
November 22, 2016-By Marina Davalos
“My Mosaic Alphabet Book” is the latest creation of Cape Cod mosaic artist Jim Bowen and his wife, Debbie. The hardcover children’s book features letters of the alphabet created in colorful and detailed mosaics by Jim, with poetry written by Debbie to go along with each letter.
“It’s been almost a five-year journey,” from concept to publication, says Jim. The book started with a desire to make something for their granddaughter, Pilar. “What grandparent doesn’t want to make an alphabet book for their grandchild?” Jim says, with a laugh.
Each letter mosaic has intricately inlaid designs of things that begin with that letter. The letter A features an apple tree, an aardvark, and an airplane. Debbie’s poetry ties everything together, giving kids a tongue-twister of letter A words. “An airplane ascends in the African sky, alerting the ants to avoid the aardvark. Alas, they advance up the apple tree, to arrive safe at home before dark.”
Debbie has been a practicing poet since she was a little girl, when her mother bought her a book of poetry. She said she’d always wanted to publish her poetry, and it all fell into place as she started thinking up rhymes to go with each of Jim’s mosaics. V is for Verona, F is for France. “On some of the letters, I didn’t put a place. I thought it’d be fun for the kids to make up,” says Debbie.
Read more...http://capecodmagazine.com/l-labor-love/
“My Mosaic Alphabet Book” is the latest creation of Cape Cod mosaic artist Jim Bowen and his wife, Debbie. The hardcover children’s book features letters of the alphabet created in colorful and detailed mosaics by Jim, with poetry written by Debbie to go along with each letter.
“It’s been almost a five-year journey,” from concept to publication, says Jim. The book started with a desire to make something for their granddaughter, Pilar. “What grandparent doesn’t want to make an alphabet book for their grandchild?” Jim says, with a laugh.
Each letter mosaic has intricately inlaid designs of things that begin with that letter. The letter A features an apple tree, an aardvark, and an airplane. Debbie’s poetry ties everything together, giving kids a tongue-twister of letter A words. “An airplane ascends in the African sky, alerting the ants to avoid the aardvark. Alas, they advance up the apple tree, to arrive safe at home before dark.”
Debbie has been a practicing poet since she was a little girl, when her mother bought her a book of poetry. She said she’d always wanted to publish her poetry, and it all fell into place as she started thinking up rhymes to go with each of Jim’s mosaics. V is for Verona, F is for France. “On some of the letters, I didn’t put a place. I thought it’d be fun for the kids to make up,” says Debbie.
Read more...http://capecodmagazine.com/l-labor-love/
We are featured in the Cape Cod Times!
"Falmouth mosaic artist debuts stained glass alphabet Saturday"
By Gwenn Friss - September 16, 2016
It took so long for mosaic artist Jim Bowen to create the 26-panel alphabet inspired by the birth of his granddaughter, Pilar, that she was old enough to help finish it.
“She’s 6 years old now, and she’s quite the artist. She does oils now," Bowen says. When Pilar visited Grammy and Gramps each summer, he says, she would want to work on the mosaic.
The project spawned a self-published book, “My Mosaic Alphabet Book” ($16.95), with mosaic art by Bowen and rhymes by his wife, Debbie Bowen. The rhymes cleverly point out images embedded in each mosaic, beginning with “An airplane ascends in the African sky alerting the ants to avoid the aardvark …”
Read on....http://www.capecodtimes.com/lifestyle/20160916/falmouth-mosaic-artist-debuts-stained-glass-alphabet-saturday
It took so long for mosaic artist Jim Bowen to create the 26-panel alphabet inspired by the birth of his granddaughter, Pilar, that she was old enough to help finish it.
“She’s 6 years old now, and she’s quite the artist. She does oils now," Bowen says. When Pilar visited Grammy and Gramps each summer, he says, she would want to work on the mosaic.
The project spawned a self-published book, “My Mosaic Alphabet Book” ($16.95), with mosaic art by Bowen and rhymes by his wife, Debbie Bowen. The rhymes cleverly point out images embedded in each mosaic, beginning with “An airplane ascends in the African sky alerting the ants to avoid the aardvark …”
Read on....http://www.capecodtimes.com/lifestyle/20160916/falmouth-mosaic-artist-debuts-stained-glass-alphabet-saturday
We are featured in The Enterprise!
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Cape Cod Wave~
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Cape Cod Magazine July 2012:
All the Little Pieces: Mosaic artist Jim Bowen's skills for creating works of ancient art require and understanding of how each part makes the universe whole.
By Jacquelyn Mysliwiec
All the Little Pieces
Mosaic artist Jim Bowen’s skills for
creating works of this ancient art
require an understanding of how
each part makes the universe whole.
Jim Bowen introduced an interesting art analogy to local elementary school students , with whom he is constructing a large mosaic tree that will be presented to the principal, an art teacher himself, as a retirement present. Each student will fashion a leaf for the tree and embellish it with some sort of personal token.
He first asked the students not if they knew what a mosaic was, but what the word community meant to them. Tiny hands darted up. Their answers were what you might expect from first graders—slightly correct in concept, but humorously misconstrued. “A community is made up of all different people,” he explained. “Each are of different colors, shapes, and sizes, and each have different stories and backgrounds. When all of the individuals come together as a whole to share their differences, a community is formed. It’s the same with mosaics.”
Even after fourteen years of practicing this 3,000-year-old art, (the first mosaics were said to be in the form of bullet-shaped clay attached to the columns of a building in ancient Iran), Bowen’s career as a mosaic artist and teacher is just at its beginning.
“I’ve done painting, print-making, pencil, oil and even some pottery, but I have never felt like I found the right medium for me,” says Bowen. After one day in the late nineties, when he started piecing together bits of china onto furniture (a new artistic fad at the time, one that his wife saw at a local workshop), making mosaics became his newfound joy.
“I liked the messiness of it. Here you are, breaking up china and making something beautiful again,” he says. “It’s like a broken person who becomes healed.”
In Haiti, it healed an entire community. After the devastating earthquake in 2010, fellow mosaic artist Laurel True from New Orleans went down to help raise spirits through artwork. Gathering up locals, many who had lost family members and every possession ever owned, True helped the people make beautiful mosaic leaves out of broken household remains like dishes, glassware, and mirrors. Bowen, inspired by her efforts, is planning a trip to Malawi in Africa in the next year or two to lead a mosaic mural project at a school that is being built by a Massachusetts couple.
Learn more about Jim Bowen and Cape Cod Mosaic Workshops at www.capecodmosaicworkshops.com After teaching his first mosaic class at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill in 1998, Bowen discovered a natural teaching ability that he never knew he had. He went on to teach a class of his own at Castle Hill, then to students at Cape Cod Community College, where he began the mosaic program there and has been instructing a mosaic course off and on for the last decade. Drawn to stained glass, he teaches the students to cut it, grind it, mount it, grout it, and get invested in what they’re making.
Bowen has led the creation of a half dozen large mosaic murals on-and off-Cape, such as the one seen at the newly opened Falmouth Dog Park and under a bridge along the Shining Sea Bikeway, also in Falmouth. During the weekend of the National Mosaic Exhibition at Highfield Hall last August, students helped Bowen, artist Linda Dadek, and illustrator Erica Szuplat (who designed the original image) create the mural. Depicted is the land’s strawberry fields in the background, while dogs and a boy are at play in the park. Back in 2010, the same three artists led a group of volunteers, both experienced and first-time mosaic makers, to put together the bikeway’s mural. Bowen guided the novices in their first go at a large-scale project. Cutting and placing together (one at a time) more than 20,000 tile pieces to make one show-stopping image is not easy work even for an experienced artist. Though the actual design is quite simplistic, each individual piece makes a statement and provides definition to the entirety of the work.
In Bowen’s home studio is a mosaic of Jesus Christ, his eyes of glistening brown glass which look as if they have the power to communicate. “If you can capture emotion with just one tiny piece of glass or tile, it really just fascinates people,” says Bowen, who won “best in show” at the 2009 Falmouth Guild Fall Juried Show for his mosaic of a woman in Peru on her way to the market. This one now hangs in the Artisan Salon which he co-owns with another artist (he has been cutting hair for 35 years).
Following last year’s National Mosaic Exhibition at Highfield Hall, which was co-curated by Bowen and featured workshops led by renowned mosaic artists, he and his wife began their own school called Cape Cod Mosaic Workshops at Highfield Hall, one of only three other mosaic schools in the nation (and the only one in New England). Each workshop is led by a visiting artist or resident artist including Bowen and cater to both novice and advanced students (another National Mosaic Exhibition is planned for 2013).
His two children grown, his salon still thriving, and his teaching a re-emerging trade, there couldn’t be a better time for Bowen to dig his hands into another fun educational project—a children’s book, told through mosaics. Bowen isn’t always a realist with his work; he also enjoys creating abstract mosaics, ones that come together through imagination as the artwork is being assembled. But many of his most proud works are inspired by emotion and expression and often hold deeper meaning—just like the word “community.”
Jim Bowen introduced an interesting art analogy to local elementary school students , with whom he is constructing a large mosaic tree that will be presented to the principal, an art teacher himself, as a retirement present. Each student will fashion a leaf for the tree and embellish it with some sort of personal token.
He first asked the students not if they knew what a mosaic was, but what the word community meant to them. Tiny hands darted up. Their answers were what you might expect from first graders—slightly correct in concept, but humorously misconstrued. “A community is made up of all different people,” he explained. “Each are of different colors, shapes, and sizes, and each have different stories and backgrounds. When all of the individuals come together as a whole to share their differences, a community is formed. It’s the same with mosaics.”
Even after fourteen years of practicing this 3,000-year-old art, (the first mosaics were said to be in the form of bullet-shaped clay attached to the columns of a building in ancient Iran), Bowen’s career as a mosaic artist and teacher is just at its beginning.
“I’ve done painting, print-making, pencil, oil and even some pottery, but I have never felt like I found the right medium for me,” says Bowen. After one day in the late nineties, when he started piecing together bits of china onto furniture (a new artistic fad at the time, one that his wife saw at a local workshop), making mosaics became his newfound joy.
“I liked the messiness of it. Here you are, breaking up china and making something beautiful again,” he says. “It’s like a broken person who becomes healed.”
In Haiti, it healed an entire community. After the devastating earthquake in 2010, fellow mosaic artist Laurel True from New Orleans went down to help raise spirits through artwork. Gathering up locals, many who had lost family members and every possession ever owned, True helped the people make beautiful mosaic leaves out of broken household remains like dishes, glassware, and mirrors. Bowen, inspired by her efforts, is planning a trip to Malawi in Africa in the next year or two to lead a mosaic mural project at a school that is being built by a Massachusetts couple.
Learn more about Jim Bowen and Cape Cod Mosaic Workshops at www.capecodmosaicworkshops.com After teaching his first mosaic class at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill in 1998, Bowen discovered a natural teaching ability that he never knew he had. He went on to teach a class of his own at Castle Hill, then to students at Cape Cod Community College, where he began the mosaic program there and has been instructing a mosaic course off and on for the last decade. Drawn to stained glass, he teaches the students to cut it, grind it, mount it, grout it, and get invested in what they’re making.
Bowen has led the creation of a half dozen large mosaic murals on-and off-Cape, such as the one seen at the newly opened Falmouth Dog Park and under a bridge along the Shining Sea Bikeway, also in Falmouth. During the weekend of the National Mosaic Exhibition at Highfield Hall last August, students helped Bowen, artist Linda Dadek, and illustrator Erica Szuplat (who designed the original image) create the mural. Depicted is the land’s strawberry fields in the background, while dogs and a boy are at play in the park. Back in 2010, the same three artists led a group of volunteers, both experienced and first-time mosaic makers, to put together the bikeway’s mural. Bowen guided the novices in their first go at a large-scale project. Cutting and placing together (one at a time) more than 20,000 tile pieces to make one show-stopping image is not easy work even for an experienced artist. Though the actual design is quite simplistic, each individual piece makes a statement and provides definition to the entirety of the work.
In Bowen’s home studio is a mosaic of Jesus Christ, his eyes of glistening brown glass which look as if they have the power to communicate. “If you can capture emotion with just one tiny piece of glass or tile, it really just fascinates people,” says Bowen, who won “best in show” at the 2009 Falmouth Guild Fall Juried Show for his mosaic of a woman in Peru on her way to the market. This one now hangs in the Artisan Salon which he co-owns with another artist (he has been cutting hair for 35 years).
Following last year’s National Mosaic Exhibition at Highfield Hall, which was co-curated by Bowen and featured workshops led by renowned mosaic artists, he and his wife began their own school called Cape Cod Mosaic Workshops at Highfield Hall, one of only three other mosaic schools in the nation (and the only one in New England). Each workshop is led by a visiting artist or resident artist including Bowen and cater to both novice and advanced students (another National Mosaic Exhibition is planned for 2013).
His two children grown, his salon still thriving, and his teaching a re-emerging trade, there couldn’t be a better time for Bowen to dig his hands into another fun educational project—a children’s book, told through mosaics. Bowen isn’t always a realist with his work; he also enjoys creating abstract mosaics, ones that come together through imagination as the artwork is being assembled. But many of his most proud works are inspired by emotion and expression and often hold deeper meaning—just like the word “community.”
The Rich Falmouth Mosaic -April 29, 2011-Cape Cod Today
Troy Clarkson's Falmouth
I've often said that one of the things that makes Falmouth such a great community in which to live and work is that is made up of a mosaic of humanity - people from all walks of life - various cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds - who blend together to make the fabric of our town. Wikipedia tells me that a mosaic is "the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces." Sounds good to me. The image of the Falmouth community is strengthened and sustained by many small pieces - many personalities who make their mark on the ongoing work of art that defines our villages and local identity.
Howard Campbell certainly made his mark and has defined his brightly colored (probably with tiny whales) piece of the mosaic. A career mentor and educator in Falmouth, Howard passed away last week, leaving fond memories with a generation of Falmouthites who remember his kind demeanor and colorful pants that he frequently wore while principal at Morse Pond and Lawrence Schools. He was the principal at Morse Pond during my two years there, and was a reassuring presence in the corner office. In retirement, Howard spent virtually every Veterans' and Memorial Day on the steps of the library as a member of the Greater Falmouth Mostly All Male Men's Chorus. Like so many others, Howard took time to give time after retirement, making his mark far beyond his vocation. It's people like Howard that make the Falmouth mosaic so special.
Special and mosaic are fitting words to define Falmouthite Jim Bowen. I had the opportunity to break bread with my old friend Jim a couple of weeks ago, and we shared stories about our time on the Main Street committee, the community-based group that oversaw the sometimes tumultuous renovation of our downtown back about fifteen years ago. Jim owned Headlines on Main Street, and was a driving force behind the Falmouth Village association and the Main Street project. We spent many nights (sometimes frustrating ones) at meetings, debating the virtues of red brick versus bluestone, and whether or not to have parking meters along our main commercial thoroughfare. These days, it's hard to imagine meters in our welcoming village. These days, Jim is actually living the mosaic in addition to being part of one. He has taken on the creation of mosaics as an artistic avocation, helping to create the beautiful work of community are along the Shining Sea Bikeway, and teaching this art to all generations of Cape Codders. He is now focusing his efforts as a curator for a national mosaic exhibition to be held here on Cape Cod this summer. Artist. Civic volunteer. Friend. Jim's piece of the Falmouth mosaic is both colorful and shining brightly.
This column is reprinted from the Falmouth Enterprise.
I've often said that one of the things that makes Falmouth such a great community in which to live and work is that is made up of a mosaic of humanity - people from all walks of life - various cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds - who blend together to make the fabric of our town. Wikipedia tells me that a mosaic is "the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces." Sounds good to me. The image of the Falmouth community is strengthened and sustained by many small pieces - many personalities who make their mark on the ongoing work of art that defines our villages and local identity.
Howard Campbell certainly made his mark and has defined his brightly colored (probably with tiny whales) piece of the mosaic. A career mentor and educator in Falmouth, Howard passed away last week, leaving fond memories with a generation of Falmouthites who remember his kind demeanor and colorful pants that he frequently wore while principal at Morse Pond and Lawrence Schools. He was the principal at Morse Pond during my two years there, and was a reassuring presence in the corner office. In retirement, Howard spent virtually every Veterans' and Memorial Day on the steps of the library as a member of the Greater Falmouth Mostly All Male Men's Chorus. Like so many others, Howard took time to give time after retirement, making his mark far beyond his vocation. It's people like Howard that make the Falmouth mosaic so special.
Special and mosaic are fitting words to define Falmouthite Jim Bowen. I had the opportunity to break bread with my old friend Jim a couple of weeks ago, and we shared stories about our time on the Main Street committee, the community-based group that oversaw the sometimes tumultuous renovation of our downtown back about fifteen years ago. Jim owned Headlines on Main Street, and was a driving force behind the Falmouth Village association and the Main Street project. We spent many nights (sometimes frustrating ones) at meetings, debating the virtues of red brick versus bluestone, and whether or not to have parking meters along our main commercial thoroughfare. These days, it's hard to imagine meters in our welcoming village. These days, Jim is actually living the mosaic in addition to being part of one. He has taken on the creation of mosaics as an artistic avocation, helping to create the beautiful work of community are along the Shining Sea Bikeway, and teaching this art to all generations of Cape Codders. He is now focusing his efforts as a curator for a national mosaic exhibition to be held here on Cape Cod this summer. Artist. Civic volunteer. Friend. Jim's piece of the Falmouth mosaic is both colorful and shining brightly.
This column is reprinted from the Falmouth Enterprise.
Falmouth Patch- A Colorful Addition to the Falmouth Bike Path- A local artist lends his talent to the Shining Sea Bike Path mosaic.
By Jason Savio (Open Post) - August 8, 2011
Sometimes all you need is a little patience. Just ask Jim Bowen. This past Thursday at Highfield Hall, Bowen presented a talk and film chronicling the long and arduous process of creating the Shining Sea Bike Path mural.
The documentary—included as part of the 2011 —was produced and filmed by Kevin Lynch of Falmouth Community Television .
A mosaic is a very detailed work of art made up of numerous pieces of small material (usually glass or stone) that fit together to make one large picture. For Bowen, a West Falmouth native and art teacher at Cape Cod Community College, this particular mosaic proved to be a major undertaking: it took four months, 800 hours, and 19,634 individual pieces to complete.
The mural, located on the Shining Sea Bike Path under the Palmer Avenue overpass, is an enormous 20 x 4 ft. piece of art that shows a number of Falmouth landmarks, including the Nobska Lighthouse.
Bowen and his team of artists worked feverishly on the mosaic over the course of one winter in the space that used to be Ghelfi’s Candy Shop downtown. “I often work in solitude, alone in the studio," Bowen says in the film. “But working as a group really was very fulfilling. We developed a real fellowship.”
Indeed, the Shining Sea Bike Path mural proved to be a major team effort. Using what is commonly known as the “double direct method,” which allows the artist to trace the mosaic over a drawing of it (usually referred to as a “cartoon” by mosaic artists) directly onto fiberglass mesh. They then cut the finished project up into separate pieces in order to transport it to its intended location before reassembling it.
Patti Johnson, founder of Friends of Falmouth Bikeways, a non-profit membership organization that helped fund the mural, along with Cape Cod Five, was there for the process and says she is looking forward to funding similar projects in the future. “[The mosaic] will be a very unique and beautiful asset,” Johnson says in the film. “We’re trying to put other art projects on the bike path, and this is the first.”
Bowen’s pride in the mosaic is evident as well. “A mosaic is everlasting”, he explains. “They never lose their color or their consistency. This will be up for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
Bowen is already at work on his next project, a mural for the recently opened Falmouth Dog Park.
http//patch.com/massachusetts/falmouth/a-colorful-addition-to-the-falmouth-bike-path
Sometimes all you need is a little patience. Just ask Jim Bowen. This past Thursday at Highfield Hall, Bowen presented a talk and film chronicling the long and arduous process of creating the Shining Sea Bike Path mural.
The documentary—included as part of the 2011 —was produced and filmed by Kevin Lynch of Falmouth Community Television .
A mosaic is a very detailed work of art made up of numerous pieces of small material (usually glass or stone) that fit together to make one large picture. For Bowen, a West Falmouth native and art teacher at Cape Cod Community College, this particular mosaic proved to be a major undertaking: it took four months, 800 hours, and 19,634 individual pieces to complete.
The mural, located on the Shining Sea Bike Path under the Palmer Avenue overpass, is an enormous 20 x 4 ft. piece of art that shows a number of Falmouth landmarks, including the Nobska Lighthouse.
Bowen and his team of artists worked feverishly on the mosaic over the course of one winter in the space that used to be Ghelfi’s Candy Shop downtown. “I often work in solitude, alone in the studio," Bowen says in the film. “But working as a group really was very fulfilling. We developed a real fellowship.”
Indeed, the Shining Sea Bike Path mural proved to be a major team effort. Using what is commonly known as the “double direct method,” which allows the artist to trace the mosaic over a drawing of it (usually referred to as a “cartoon” by mosaic artists) directly onto fiberglass mesh. They then cut the finished project up into separate pieces in order to transport it to its intended location before reassembling it.
Patti Johnson, founder of Friends of Falmouth Bikeways, a non-profit membership organization that helped fund the mural, along with Cape Cod Five, was there for the process and says she is looking forward to funding similar projects in the future. “[The mosaic] will be a very unique and beautiful asset,” Johnson says in the film. “We’re trying to put other art projects on the bike path, and this is the first.”
Bowen’s pride in the mosaic is evident as well. “A mosaic is everlasting”, he explains. “They never lose their color or their consistency. This will be up for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
Bowen is already at work on his next project, a mural for the recently opened Falmouth Dog Park.
http//patch.com/massachusetts/falmouth/a-colorful-addition-to-the-falmouth-bike-path
The Falmouth Enterprise October 24, 2008- "Long an Artist, Well Know Stylist Immerses Himself in a New Medium"
By Laura Reckford
Many people in town know James C. Bowen from his years as a hairstylist now at Artisan Salon and formerly owner of Headlines Salon on Main Street. But over the past 10 years, Mr. Bowen has turned his dexterity, artistic flair, and knack for creativity into a new passion, using the ancient art of crafting mosaics to create
contemporary works.Mr. Bowen of Uncatena North in West Falmouth has been an artist for years, painting and sketching as a hobby. But, he said, until he began making mosaics, he “never had a sense the medium I was working in felt right.”
He had always liked the tactile part of creating art, like in pottery where “you get a little dirty.” About 10 years ago, his wife, Deborah G. Bowen, who owns the Main Street gift and clothing shop Bojangles Int’l, suggested he try his hand at crafting tables with broken pieces of glass on the top, which were popular gifts at the time.
His first major piece was a 28 by 54-inch table top that is now at the Beachmoor Restaurant in Buzzards Bay. Mr. Bowen took to the labor-intensive work immediately. “While working on that, it felt like I found a medium I had been searching for,” he said.
He later found out doing mosaics ran in the family. It turns out his grandfather, Salvadore Pi- azza, who was born in Sicily and later immigrated to Framingham, was a top tile artist.
He also believes a family fondness for puzzles plays a role in his enjoyment with making mo- saics. “My mother always had a jigsaw puzzle going when I was a kid,” he said.
While the jigsaw puzzle aspect of creating a mosaic makes it an art form that almost anyone can do, it is the knowledge of how to use color to create movement that separates an ordinary mosaic from a true work of art.
“Anybody can do mosaics; it takes someone with an artistic flair to make it work,” Mr. Bowen said.
As Mr. Bowen’s interest grew in the medium of mosaics, he searched out training. He found it through a Russian couple who were living in New York City and running mosaic workshops out of their studio. Mr. Bowen commuted to New York to take about 20 classes in the loft workshop of the couple, whose mosaic techniques came out of the great Byzantine tradition of Russian mosaic artists. Mr. Bowen said that he learned much about how to use color in mosaics from the couple. They taught him how to incorporate complementary colors and how to use different hues of the same color to achieve a richer level of shading, for example.
They also taught him the art of “adamento,” in which the tiles emphasize the curves in an im- age, like the muscles of the body. A prime characteristic of mosaics is the sense of movement created from wavy lines. Mr. Bowen said that is why he likes crafting the hair in images, because it is an opportunity to create movement in the creative use of color in the tiles.
Besides color and movement, it is perhaps the shape and bumpiness of the tiles, that three-dimensionality, that is the allure of mosaics. “The first thing everyone wants to do when they see a mosaic is touch it,” Mr. Bowen said. “Of course, you’re allowed to touch it, unlike a painting.” From the Russian couple, Mr. Bowen also learned different techniques of mosaic construction and how to think outside the box when using different colors, like placing red and green tiles next to each other to make a section of the piece “pop out,” Mr. Bowen said. To continue his training, Mr. Bowen traveled to Ravenna, Italy, one of the most famous cities in the world for mosaics. There he took a workshop on the restora- tion of old mosaics and learned more about their history. Mosaics are among the oldest art forms besides cave painting and examples of the art go back almost 3,000 years, Mr. Bowen said. Mosaics became extremely popular in Byzantine art during the Middle Ages, but during the Renaissance, painting became the premier art form and all but replaced mosaics. Ravenna, the last stronghold of the Byzantine empire in Italy, was the center of late Roman mosaic art, and elab- orate mosaics can be seen today in the city’s churches.
After taking mosaic workshops, Mr. Bowen started experimenting with the medium, teaching himself nuances of the art. At the same time, he took a design class at Cape Cod Community College, and the instructor, after seeing one of Mr. Bowen’s mosaics, asked him to take over one class and teach the students how to make a mosaic. The session was so popular that Mr. Bowen is now teaching the art of mosaics at the community college. Several benches with mosaic tops that he has made can be seen on the campus.
While crafting a mosaic in his home recently, Mr. Bowen explained the steps that go into each work. Each mosaic begins with the artist creating a “cartoon,” the Italian word for drawing, which will be reproduced with glass tiles. The glass tiles are then individually laid on top of the drawing, using the color and shape of each tile to detail the lines and curves of the under- lying image. Because of the way that glass tiles reflect light, the final image becomes almost like a two-dimensional work; the light reflections create waves of movement in the piece.
For most of his mosaics, Mr. Bowen usually uses glass shipped from Venice. He purchases sheets of the glass and cuts them into small pieces. He has also created some pieces using local beach glass or even broken pieces of china, or as he calls them, “broken coffee cups.”
It is as he places each piece of glass on top of the drawn image, the cartoon, that the process resembles the construction of a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece must fit tightly in place.
Mr. Bowen’s tools include a double-wheeled glass cutter that he can use to modify the shape of a glass piece. He can also use tweezers to make sure the pieces fit perfectly in place.
Working in mosaics gives the artist the flexibility to change portions of a piece after it is finished. On one recent piece, Mr. Bowen said he decided the eyes were “not soft enough,” so he re-did that section, using different colors and shapes of glass.
Mr. Bowen chooses his subjects by working with his clients, often producing sketches for the client to consider. Pieces in his home capture religious iconography, as well as modern subject matter. He recently installed a piece in a home in Quissett that is a colorful image of goldfinches. Another recent work, inspired by a sculpture Mr. Bowen saw, shows a man with arms extend- ed in adulation toward a woman with flowing hair. If the faces look familiar, it is no coincidence. He modeled them after himself and his wife, Deborah.
Many people in town know James C. Bowen from his years as a hairstylist now at Artisan Salon and formerly owner of Headlines Salon on Main Street. But over the past 10 years, Mr. Bowen has turned his dexterity, artistic flair, and knack for creativity into a new passion, using the ancient art of crafting mosaics to create
contemporary works.Mr. Bowen of Uncatena North in West Falmouth has been an artist for years, painting and sketching as a hobby. But, he said, until he began making mosaics, he “never had a sense the medium I was working in felt right.”
He had always liked the tactile part of creating art, like in pottery where “you get a little dirty.” About 10 years ago, his wife, Deborah G. Bowen, who owns the Main Street gift and clothing shop Bojangles Int’l, suggested he try his hand at crafting tables with broken pieces of glass on the top, which were popular gifts at the time.
His first major piece was a 28 by 54-inch table top that is now at the Beachmoor Restaurant in Buzzards Bay. Mr. Bowen took to the labor-intensive work immediately. “While working on that, it felt like I found a medium I had been searching for,” he said.
He later found out doing mosaics ran in the family. It turns out his grandfather, Salvadore Pi- azza, who was born in Sicily and later immigrated to Framingham, was a top tile artist.
He also believes a family fondness for puzzles plays a role in his enjoyment with making mo- saics. “My mother always had a jigsaw puzzle going when I was a kid,” he said.
While the jigsaw puzzle aspect of creating a mosaic makes it an art form that almost anyone can do, it is the knowledge of how to use color to create movement that separates an ordinary mosaic from a true work of art.
“Anybody can do mosaics; it takes someone with an artistic flair to make it work,” Mr. Bowen said.
As Mr. Bowen’s interest grew in the medium of mosaics, he searched out training. He found it through a Russian couple who were living in New York City and running mosaic workshops out of their studio. Mr. Bowen commuted to New York to take about 20 classes in the loft workshop of the couple, whose mosaic techniques came out of the great Byzantine tradition of Russian mosaic artists. Mr. Bowen said that he learned much about how to use color in mosaics from the couple. They taught him how to incorporate complementary colors and how to use different hues of the same color to achieve a richer level of shading, for example.
They also taught him the art of “adamento,” in which the tiles emphasize the curves in an im- age, like the muscles of the body. A prime characteristic of mosaics is the sense of movement created from wavy lines. Mr. Bowen said that is why he likes crafting the hair in images, because it is an opportunity to create movement in the creative use of color in the tiles.
Besides color and movement, it is perhaps the shape and bumpiness of the tiles, that three-dimensionality, that is the allure of mosaics. “The first thing everyone wants to do when they see a mosaic is touch it,” Mr. Bowen said. “Of course, you’re allowed to touch it, unlike a painting.” From the Russian couple, Mr. Bowen also learned different techniques of mosaic construction and how to think outside the box when using different colors, like placing red and green tiles next to each other to make a section of the piece “pop out,” Mr. Bowen said. To continue his training, Mr. Bowen traveled to Ravenna, Italy, one of the most famous cities in the world for mosaics. There he took a workshop on the restora- tion of old mosaics and learned more about their history. Mosaics are among the oldest art forms besides cave painting and examples of the art go back almost 3,000 years, Mr. Bowen said. Mosaics became extremely popular in Byzantine art during the Middle Ages, but during the Renaissance, painting became the premier art form and all but replaced mosaics. Ravenna, the last stronghold of the Byzantine empire in Italy, was the center of late Roman mosaic art, and elab- orate mosaics can be seen today in the city’s churches.
After taking mosaic workshops, Mr. Bowen started experimenting with the medium, teaching himself nuances of the art. At the same time, he took a design class at Cape Cod Community College, and the instructor, after seeing one of Mr. Bowen’s mosaics, asked him to take over one class and teach the students how to make a mosaic. The session was so popular that Mr. Bowen is now teaching the art of mosaics at the community college. Several benches with mosaic tops that he has made can be seen on the campus.
While crafting a mosaic in his home recently, Mr. Bowen explained the steps that go into each work. Each mosaic begins with the artist creating a “cartoon,” the Italian word for drawing, which will be reproduced with glass tiles. The glass tiles are then individually laid on top of the drawing, using the color and shape of each tile to detail the lines and curves of the under- lying image. Because of the way that glass tiles reflect light, the final image becomes almost like a two-dimensional work; the light reflections create waves of movement in the piece.
For most of his mosaics, Mr. Bowen usually uses glass shipped from Venice. He purchases sheets of the glass and cuts them into small pieces. He has also created some pieces using local beach glass or even broken pieces of china, or as he calls them, “broken coffee cups.”
It is as he places each piece of glass on top of the drawn image, the cartoon, that the process resembles the construction of a jigsaw puzzle. Each piece must fit tightly in place.
Mr. Bowen’s tools include a double-wheeled glass cutter that he can use to modify the shape of a glass piece. He can also use tweezers to make sure the pieces fit perfectly in place.
Working in mosaics gives the artist the flexibility to change portions of a piece after it is finished. On one recent piece, Mr. Bowen said he decided the eyes were “not soft enough,” so he re-did that section, using different colors and shapes of glass.
Mr. Bowen chooses his subjects by working with his clients, often producing sketches for the client to consider. Pieces in his home capture religious iconography, as well as modern subject matter. He recently installed a piece in a home in Quissett that is a colorful image of goldfinches. Another recent work, inspired by a sculpture Mr. Bowen saw, shows a man with arms extend- ed in adulation toward a woman with flowing hair. If the faces look familiar, it is no coincidence. He modeled them after himself and his wife, Deborah.
