What does a mosaicist contribute when the source image already exists? Photography, craftsmanship and AI raise some of the same questions.

I can say whether I like a mosaic, but that does not tell the artist what is working, what needs changing or what is worth preserving.

I start with the whole image: its value masses, proportions and major edges. Only then do I examine individual pieces and technique.

An illustrated look at how pieces, intervals, edges, glass and light shape what we see in mosaics. A digital edition of the book is available.

I remember troublesome pieces and hard-won corrections. Another viewer does not. Sometimes walking away helps me see the mosaic rather than the history of making it.

If you work in mosaic, you probably notice pretty quickly that mine are not grouted. I leave grout out because of what I want the image to do, not because I think the rest of you should stop using it. To me, grout is another visual material in the image, not neutral filler. Change the width, value or color between tesserae and you change how those tesserae separate, join and compete with one another, which can help one mosaic and hurt another. I work with stained glass and pl

I can ruin a perfectly good part of a mosaic by looking at it too closely for too long, and I have done it more than once. I replace one bothersome piece, then the replacement bothers me, and twenty minutes later I have corrected something that disappears as soon as I walk across the room. At the bench, "Does this tessera look right?" feels like a reasonable question. It is not enough by itself because I also need to ask where it has to look right and what happens to the imag