Mosaic Art Show in Long Beach

The 2nd City Council Art Gallery in Long Beach is hosting an exhibition of mosaic art that is truly beautiful.

There are landscapes, abstracts, portraits, sculptures, 3D works--over two dozen pieces, all unique and all mosaic. This sweet picture to the left won a prize and is part of a series of Alice in Wonderland mosaics by artist Doreen Adams. You can see more of her work here.

The exhibit is called "Tesserae: The Art of Mosaic" and I thank Lillian Sizemore for telling me about it so I could attend the Artists' Reception last Saturday.

Artists' gallery receptions are so great because you get to see wonderful things, nibble on cheese, and drink wine while hanging around brilliantly creative people, hoping some of their talent may rub off. Plus, this one had MUSIC!

The picture at right is just a partial, sadly. It shows about 1/4 of the mosaic, which won top prize and is called something like "Shoes on a Purple Road." The rest of the mosaic is more beige background with a few purple bits--but it frames the shoes so beautifully that I feel bad about this picture, which I scanned from the gallery's program card. Another reason why you should go to Long Beach and see this in person!

The 2nd City Council Gallery is located at 435 Alamitos Avenue, a few doors north of 4th Street. The exhibit will be up through October 16, and many of the pieces are for sale. Gallery hours are 12 noon to 5 PM, Wednesday through Sunday.

Here's their own statement about who they are: "We are dedicated to supporting and promoting artists, their work and art education. Our mission is to expose the public to the wealth of creativity that exists. Our exhibitions are usually thematic and explore topics, from each artists’ unique perspective, that impactor interest the community as a whole."

The gallery has an outdoor garden space as well.

Hmmm...that might be why their full name is The 2nd City Council Gallery and Performance Space. They've given free mosaic lessons there last spring and summer, and hopefully they will continue that program at some point. The gallery is a nonprofit.

The last two pictures are called "Alcanza" by Northern California artist April Maiten, whose website is here. She even does license plate frames with her glass tiles. The frames cost around $40-$45, so you can support the arts without spending like Andrew Carnegie.

And, on the right, the mosaic "Fracture" by Rachel Sager--one of my favorites at the show.

Mosaics in the show, by the way, came from both local and international artists.