Mary Louise Chojnowski

	Byzantine Mosaic  [124Kb]
	Workshop at Kingswood School  [76Kb]
	Mermaid in park  [72Kb]
	Norwood Park  [96Kb]

Artist's Statement

2006 has seen a greatly increased demand for Mary's mosaic work, especially school commissions. At the end of Summer 2006, Mary completed a community project in Norwood Park. The paddling pool now features mosaic mermaids and sculpture benches constructed by 3 local artists and schoolchildren. Mary has now begun working as an artist in residence at Kingswood School, Gipsy Hill, with fellow mosaic artist Lisa Groves.

The artists have been commissioned to renew the interior of one the area's original Victorian school buildings with large scale mosaics. It is a very exciting and innovative project for the artists, giving them scope to demonstrate some of their own mosaic techniques and motifs on a large scale.

Phase 1 of the project is based on the themes of UNITY, TOGETHERNESS and TOLERANCE and what this means to each child in the school. In workshops, the children are exploring the artistic symbols and motifs which these themes inspire, and the artists work with each child to translate their ideas into mosaic designs. We aim to give every child in the school an integral part in the construction of the entire work.

With her background in Classical studies, Mary has been exploring mosaic techniques for many years, using Byzantine, Greek and Roman knowledge in her own works. More importantly, Mary is interested in preserving the great symbolism of mosaic art, and bringing their inner meanings which began in ancient mosaics to the modern forum. Mary enjoys using the children as the interpreters of the final mosaics, as their ideas are also enormously symbolic, often echoing ancient mosaics and often creating new symbolic forms.

The children are given a full part in the construction of the mosaics. Mary and Lisa's workshops work on the basis that the children's ideas are the inspiration, the process and the final finished piece.

We will be staging an 'opening evening' for community members, schools, artists and other interested parties to view the completion of the 1st phase of school work later in 2007. Contact Mary for info/invitations to this community event.

Other community work includes a major commission for Crystal Palace's Greek Orthodox church on Westow Hill. Mary will be involved in the design and construction of Byzantine mosaics for the church interior. Donations/sponsoring work for this project may be discussed with Father D. Economou at the Church of St. Constantine & St Helen, Westow Hill, SE19.

Biography

Mary graduated with a 2.1 in Classics with modern languages from Nottingham University in the late 1990s. She lived and worked in the North for 6 years in advertising and marketing before moving to London. Now settled in Crystal Palace with 2 children, she works from her studio at home painting and creating mosaics.

Since 2002, she has exhibited work with The Friends of the Horniman Museum, who exhibit annually at the museum and she also uses her marketing background to run their publicity campaigns. She also regularly runs her own art exhibitions at least once a year, sometimes with fellow artists. She now spends a lot of time producing mosaics for commissions and individual items for sale. See more details in the 'statement' above.

Contact Details

Mary Louise Chojnowski
E: leighmary2@yahoo.com
T: 07780 638 906