Laurie Mika provides us with a heraldic banner to start our festive Thanksgiving week. Historically, people displayed their coat of arms and other designs to identify and celebrate the family. This banner is a promo for her classes at the Tucson Art Retreat In the Desert (scroll down to her February 5 class).

Usually Laurie uses her techniques on polymer for shrines or jewelry. In this class she’ll show how the same stamp, paint, collage, embed, layer, transfer methods combine into a mixed-media mosaic that can be used to make banners and other artworks. The banner becomes the vehicle for a modern family narrative.

Laurie is just back from her Day of the Dead workshop in Mexico that you can read about on her blog. You’ll find more of her story on Pinterest and Facebook.