When I arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2001, I was struck by the richness and delicate beauty of the city’s historic mosaics and in particular by the Byzantine designs: the faces, lanky beasts, folds of cloth, plump fruit and symbolic patterns.
I have always loved things which are made by the slow and deliberate accumulation of parts: the dry stone walls of Britian's north, the densely embroidered panels on Bedouin dresses, patchwork quilts, market stalls, mature gardens and sentences which contain all that need to be said. The result seems casual, organic and simple but the process is usually long and far from effortless. So, with inspiration all around me, I started making mosaics.
I learnt the craft with Vangelis Galinos, a Thessaloniki-based master craftsman and artist. He taught using traditional methods with a focus on Byzantine iconography. I have also taken short courses in the UK with Emma Biggs of London’s Mosaic Workshop and Martin Cheek. I prefer to work with local stone and marble and my aim is to preserve the simplicity and directness of early mosaics while creating pieces which suit our modern lives.
I was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1963, studied English Literature at Oxford University and then spent several years working in America before returning to the UK to take a Diploma in Journalism. I worked as news and features journalist in Egypt where I met my husband, David. We have three children and lived in Bahrain before moving to Greece.
