This polymer wall art from Laurie Mika not only looks good with my site’s color scheme (always a consideration), it also reminds me to think in three dimensions on a similar project I’m working on for my new porch.
Thumbing through her site made me feel like I’d just taken a quick class. Her tiles are colorful and richly layered with a confident looseness and freedom
In creating her “Urban Icons” she uses a variety of overlapping techniques – mosaic design, painting, rubber stamping, collage, embossing, beading, and embedding just about anything into polymer clay.
She’s posted a growing list of workshops and you can also refer to her Mixed Media Mosaics book for more instruction on her lusciously embellished techniques.
Wendy Pobanz ,
Took Laurie’s class at the 2010 Cabin Fever Festival in Laurel, Maryland. Was a great class and had so much fun learning from her. She makes you feel great about your work! Love her work!
caren goodrich ,
I believe when, a few decades from now, we look back at “turn of the century” art (late 1990s-mid 2000s), Laurie Mika will be an artist who well represents what was going on in that era.
What started out as the rubber stamp craze in the early 1990s (I had a rubber stamp business where I made my own art stamps and sold them wholesale/retail so I well remember the mania) where people were stamping snail mail envelopes that morphed into the scrapbooking craze that morphed into a craft explosion which burst in many different directions. The explosion included mosaic, fiber, beads, polymer, collage, ATCs, mixed media and spawned many how to magazines and books that still continues on today.
Paula ,
I purchased Mika’s book and it is awesome. She has a great way of teaching how to do the multi-medium mosaics. I’ve had so much fun with this book and have learned a ton. Thanks Mika
nevahmoore ,
I enjoyed seeing these collages but I couldn’t find any mosaics.
Peg Harper ,
Laurie Mika is a true treasure. The Mile HIgh guild here in Denver hosted her for a two-day workshop last fall. We all agreed that we’d have her back whenever
she has the time. We had more fun and learned so very much. One of the best parts was being able to find uses for all those tools and paints, leafing, textures, glitters, beads,…. all that stuff we’ve collected and meant to use. She also introduced us to lots of goodies we didn’t know we needed! Ha!
Ronalyn ,
The Houston Polymer Clay Guild will be hosting Laurie Mika on August 14-15. I’ve no doubt her workshop will be a wonderful experience for all the attendees, who are looking forward to two exciting days of learning and creating from one of the best.