About Me
“Look up close and you will see a little piece of you is me”
“My name is Carolyn Ash, I am a Mosaic Artist living and working in Norfolk.
I possess a wealth of experience in facilitating workshops in many of the local schools. I have also been involved with a number of community projects for local councils and amenity centres in this area. I offer the whole process, from design through resourcing and organising to cutting tesserae and making the piece. I work creatively with precision, and am very capable of teaching groups of adults or children, with a gentle manner, offering my skills but also allowing people to express their own creativity”
Patterns found in nature and design have always been important elements in my life... I love my work. What I can offer now as an artist is the sum of all of my experiences. As a child I was always finding ‘new’ ways to do or see things, knitting and making, trying to re-design games, creating barbie clothes and of course, constantly questioning... I also loved walking out in the Surrey countryside and observing nature.
I trained at Great Yarmouth Art College and West Sussex College of Design in the 80’s, specialising in Textiles and Design.
Whilst living in London for 11 years in the late 80‘s, early 90’s I was fortunate to gain all different kinds of work experience, such as shop window dressing and sign writing for Christina Smith in Covent Garden also stylist work for exhibition and magazine photographers.
After this time I was involved in a giftware company partnership based in Lewisham called ‘The Rooftop Art Company’. We designed and produced screen printed wrapping papers, greeting cards and T’shirts in an ethical way for shops such as Graham & Green, Liberty, WH Smith, many independent galleries and a Japanese mail-order catalogue. We regularly had stands at trade exhibitions such as ‘Top Drawer’ at Olympia, London.
Twenty years ago I moved back to Norfolk. I was growing tired of having to produce art commercially so I took the opportunity to focus on making one-off pieces with a view to supplying just a few shops and galleries. I also bought a kiln, enabling me to paint and fire tiles which proved to be successful. This lead to an interest in Mosaic, which became a passion and also allowed me to collect yet more little shiny interesting things and it also made sense in the way of recycling. I found that I could use these found objects in my work.... I loved the way that I could re-work broken things and encapsulate time and feelings.
I am very fortunate that two amazing children (now teenagers) came along, helping me to put my life and work into perspective. I wanted to be there for them and I subsequently wound my work down. so when they were little I would grab rare moments in my studio to produce a handful of pieces I could offer to a few customers. I started to make mirrors and painted panels incorporating images of Seahorses and other creatures from the natural world... I enjoyed this fusion of paint and mosaic.
We moved to ‘The Post House’ in Castle Acre and ran the shop for 5 years. As a result I became very involved with the community, stocking local crafts peoples work, books written by local people and curiosities of all kinds, and of course, my own work. I wanted to share my skills so I started to hold mosaic workshops in schools and with the community.
I now have studio space above the village Hall in Castle Acre and I run workshops and Creative maker Fairs from the hall. ‘Mosaic Memories’ evolved as a theraputic concept, personal pieces I have made have helped me deal with the loss of loved ones, and as I worked more and more with people, I realised the importance of our connections with each other.
On this site you can see my most recent work. I put 100% into each project that I do, I love to use recycled materials like broken plates, brooches and mirror.. so each piece is unique. People bring me these broken things and I create a new memory with them! I open my studio yearly in the Norfolk and Norwich festival scheme ‘Open Studios’. I exhibit in art exhibitions and have produced pieces for sculpture trails.
I combine my creative skills for each piece, which is carefully designed. The tesserae is researched and formulated, so that, through the artwork,s I explore the idea of making memories in mosaic form.
Private commissions are taken for Panels, house signs, mirrors and commemorative pieces....Your personal treasures, that you supply, can be incorporated into your piece.
Workshops in schools and parties for all ages available.
'A finished piece finely weaves thoughts and encapsulates a unique period of time'
Member of
British Association of Modern Mosaic
Artists Network
Member
