Sonia King
Encyclopedia
Sonia King is a mosaic
artist
, author, movie writer and educator with studios in Dallas, Texas and San Francisco, California. She creates one-of-a-kind, fine art mosaics for gallery, architectural, community and residential settings. Her award-winning art is exhibited nationally and internationally and represented in private, public and corporate collections. Nebula Chroma is a recent project for the new main lobby of Children's Medical Center of Dallas, which won a second international Spectrum Award for her creative use of tile. Nebula Chroma was selected for exhibition at RavennaMosaico, the First International Festival of Contemporary Mosaic in Ravenna
, Italy.
King creates contemporary, abstract mosaic art with a complex variety of tesserae, working with spacing, reflectivity and texture. The rich surface offers continued visual interest as new relationships are noticed even after extensive viewing. All the pieces are cut by hand, without power tools. While some large scale installations (like Nebula Chroma) are grouted using a multi-colored 'fresco grout' technique that King developed, her fine art mosaics are not grouted. This allows each tessera to retain its own identity, revealing more by emphasizing shadows and negative space. "Mosaic is hard. Art is harder. Creating with a broad range of materials raises the complexity beyond just cutting a piece to fit. I work to get every tessera right while managing its relationship to the next piece and the one before, all the time considering the work as a whole. Unlimited choices in scale and texture and reflectivity and spacing and more, keep my mind working on multiple levels at the same time."
Sonia King is a founding member and past-President of the Society of American Mosaic Artists and serves as a Vice President of the Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei (AIMC) in Ravenna, Italy. She is instructor in mosaic at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas and teaches master classes internationally in locations ranging from France, New Zealand, Tunisia, Turkey and West Dean College in England. She has spoken on mosaic art in England, France, Australia, Brazil, Macedonia, Turkey and Italy. King was featured on HGTV’s popular show, Modern Masters, and in numerous books. She is the author of the bestselling book “Mosaic Techniques & Traditions” from Sterling Publishing and is currently co-authoring Mosaic Master Class: The Advanced Techniques with English mosaic artist Emma Biggs
.
"The extraordinary thing about Sonia King's work is her ability to create homogeny without sacrificing the individuality of her materials. Each segment is uniquely alluring, but when assembled together becomes an engaging masterpiece."
Fishman, George. American Mosaics and Contemporary Art Themes in MOSAIC, Mosaic Art Assoc. in Japan; November Vol.9, 2004
Goodwin, Elaine M. Encyclopedia of Mosaic, Batsford LTD, UK; 2003 ISBN 0-7134-8777-1
Goodwin, Elaine M. Mosaic Today, Trafalgar Square, UK; 2003. ISBN 1-57076-399-2
Gravier, Tracy. Crazy Mosaic, Laurel Glen Publishing, USA; 2000. ISBN 1-57145-655-4
Hammer, Brit. Mosaic: Finding Your Own Voice, Blurb, USA; 2008. ISBN 978-90-812669-4-9
Hunkin, Tessa. Modern Mosaic. Firefly Books, UK; 2003. ISBN 1-55297-701-3
Kelly, Sarah. The Complete Mosaic Handbook. Firefly Books, USA; 2008. ISBN 1-55297-774-9
King, Sonia. Mosaic Techniques and Traditions, Sterling Publishing, USA; Hardback: 2003 ISBN 0-8069-7577-6. Paperback: 2006 ISBN 1-4027-4061-1
Locktov, JoAnn and Mastandrea, Doreen. Mosaic Sourcebook, Rockport Publishers, USA; 2004. ISBN 1-59223-216-7
Locktov, JoAnn. Mosaic Art and Style. Rockport Publishers, USA; 2005. ISBN 1-59253-145-8
Macquaire, P. Mosaique en Movement, Association les 3 R, France; 2002. ISBN 2-9514318-2-1
Mastandrea, Doreen. Mosaics Inside and Out, Quarry, USA; 2001.
ISBN 1-56496-742-5
Weitenberg, Greet and Marcelo de Melo
. De Kunst van het Mozaieken. Forte Uitgavers BV: The Netherlands, 2010. ISBN 90-5877-739-1
Vallee, Nicole. Dallas Soars, Taylor Publishing, USA; 2001 ISBN 0-615-11975-1
Yee, Roger. Healthcare Spaces No.2, Visual Reference Publications, USA; 2004. ISBN 1-58471-045-4
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, author, movie writer and educator with studios in Dallas, Texas and San Francisco, California. She creates one-of-a-kind, fine art mosaics for gallery, architectural, community and residential settings. Her award-winning art is exhibited nationally and internationally and represented in private, public and corporate collections. Nebula Chroma is a recent project for the new main lobby of Children's Medical Center of Dallas, which won a second international Spectrum Award for her creative use of tile. Nebula Chroma was selected for exhibition at RavennaMosaico, the First International Festival of Contemporary Mosaic in Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
, Italy.
King creates contemporary, abstract mosaic art with a complex variety of tesserae, working with spacing, reflectivity and texture. The rich surface offers continued visual interest as new relationships are noticed even after extensive viewing. All the pieces are cut by hand, without power tools. While some large scale installations (like Nebula Chroma) are grouted using a multi-colored 'fresco grout' technique that King developed, her fine art mosaics are not grouted. This allows each tessera to retain its own identity, revealing more by emphasizing shadows and negative space. "Mosaic is hard. Art is harder. Creating with a broad range of materials raises the complexity beyond just cutting a piece to fit. I work to get every tessera right while managing its relationship to the next piece and the one before, all the time considering the work as a whole. Unlimited choices in scale and texture and reflectivity and spacing and more, keep my mind working on multiple levels at the same time."
Sonia King is a founding member and past-President of the Society of American Mosaic Artists and serves as a Vice President of the Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei (AIMC) in Ravenna, Italy. She is instructor in mosaic at the Creative Arts Center of Dallas and teaches master classes internationally in locations ranging from France, New Zealand, Tunisia, Turkey and West Dean College in England. She has spoken on mosaic art in England, France, Australia, Brazil, Macedonia, Turkey and Italy. King was featured on HGTV’s popular show, Modern Masters, and in numerous books. She is the author of the bestselling book “Mosaic Techniques & Traditions” from Sterling Publishing and is currently co-authoring Mosaic Master Class: The Advanced Techniques with English mosaic artist Emma Biggs
Emma Biggs
Emma Biggs is a London-based mosaic artist and author of a number of standard textbooks on contemporary mosaic practice. Having recently completed a large public art project -- "Made in England" -- based on the visual culture and ideology of the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent , her work has...
.
"The extraordinary thing about Sonia King's work is her ability to create homogeny without sacrificing the individuality of her materials. Each segment is uniquely alluring, but when assembled together becomes an engaging masterpiece."
Publications
Dawson, D.T. The New Mosaic, Lark Press, USA; 1999. ISBN 1-57990-138-7Fishman, George. American Mosaics and Contemporary Art Themes in MOSAIC, Mosaic Art Assoc. in Japan; November Vol.9, 2004
Goodwin, Elaine M. Encyclopedia of Mosaic, Batsford LTD, UK; 2003 ISBN 0-7134-8777-1
Goodwin, Elaine M. Mosaic Today, Trafalgar Square, UK; 2003. ISBN 1-57076-399-2
Gravier, Tracy. Crazy Mosaic, Laurel Glen Publishing, USA; 2000. ISBN 1-57145-655-4
Hammer, Brit. Mosaic: Finding Your Own Voice, Blurb, USA; 2008. ISBN 978-90-812669-4-9
Hunkin, Tessa. Modern Mosaic. Firefly Books, UK; 2003. ISBN 1-55297-701-3
Kelly, Sarah. The Complete Mosaic Handbook. Firefly Books, USA; 2008. ISBN 1-55297-774-9
King, Sonia. Mosaic Techniques and Traditions, Sterling Publishing, USA; Hardback: 2003 ISBN 0-8069-7577-6. Paperback: 2006 ISBN 1-4027-4061-1
Locktov, JoAnn and Mastandrea, Doreen. Mosaic Sourcebook, Rockport Publishers, USA; 2004. ISBN 1-59223-216-7
Locktov, JoAnn. Mosaic Art and Style. Rockport Publishers, USA; 2005. ISBN 1-59253-145-8
Macquaire, P. Mosaique en Movement, Association les 3 R, France; 2002. ISBN 2-9514318-2-1
Mastandrea, Doreen. Mosaics Inside and Out, Quarry, USA; 2001.
ISBN 1-56496-742-5
Weitenberg, Greet and Marcelo de Melo
Marcelo de Melo
Marcelo José de Melo is a Brazilian artist. He was born in Apucarana, Paraná, and lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ....
. De Kunst van het Mozaieken. Forte Uitgavers BV: The Netherlands, 2010. ISBN 90-5877-739-1
Vallee, Nicole. Dallas Soars, Taylor Publishing, USA; 2001 ISBN 0-615-11975-1
Yee, Roger. Healthcare Spaces No.2, Visual Reference Publications, USA; 2004. ISBN 1-58471-045-4