All posts filed under: Blog posts

A reunion with Jack Whitten

Reunion with Jack Whitten – A retrospective at MoMA, New York A few years ago, I had the opportunity to see Jack Whitten’s works for the first time at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. At the time, it was a real surprise for me to discover his mosaic paintings. I was particularly fascinated by how he integrated the mosaic technique from Greece into his paintings after a stay there. Even back then, I was impressed by his unique method of making the mosaic tiles himself from dried acrylic paint – a creative and elaborate technique that gives his works a special depth and structure. In April 2025, I had the opportunity to experience Whitten’s works again in a comprehensive retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The exhibition gave me new insights into his working methods. It was particularly exciting to learn that his fascination with acrylic paint is partly due to the fact that this medium only emerged in the 1970s – a time in which Whitten worked with it …

Ukraine House community mosaic

In March 2025 we ran 2 workshops with the Ukraine House community to draw designs and later built them as mosaics. The idea was to create a map of the beautiful embroidery of Ukraine as a mosaic mural. I was thrilled by this commission as I lived in Ukraine between 2006-12 and could experience their rich culture in embroidery. Now during the time of war in Ukraine, I had never been able to express my sorrow enough about not only the loss of lives but also of hand crafted items like embroidered garnment, handcarved ornaments on houses and churches and of course the flagship of Ukrainian artisanal mastery – Pysanky eggs. But the patterns are still alive! In books, in the memory of people and in objects that survived destruction. In this project we literally set in stone 25 embroidery patterns each one depicting a region of Ukraine. Nearly 30 people came to draw and later built these patterns with small kizment glass tiles. Participants were not only Ukrainian nationals. I met a young reasearcher …

Ukraine House Mosaic Installation

End of April 2025 was dedicated to the installation of the Ukraine House Mosaic – a Map of Embroidery of Ukraine. MosaicMoments team was in great action to pick up the 28 tiles from Ukraine House and mount them to the Wedi Board in my workshop. It is a joy to have Kim and Erin in the team. Working together is so much more fun. Problem solving is also better done in a team as there are three brains available to find solutions.