Reflections on a month in my membership

Estimated time to read - under 3 minutes

This year I decided to set up a new mosaic membership programme. But before I launched straight into offering this to the public, I wanted to have a bit of a practice. I wanted to try things out so any potential issues could be solved before opening the doors to everyone. And I also wanted some feedback - to see if what I planned to offer was actually something that people would find useful. 

So I invited some of my students to join me for a trial version for three months to see what they thought. We have just finished our first month in the membership and today I thought I’d share a few reflections on how things have gone (spoiler alert - it has gone sooo well!) 

The main premise of the membership is to have a different topic/prompt for each month for people to work on. I do a live teaching session to introduce this and some of the concepts/techniques that could be used, and then members create something in response. At the end of the month we have a review session to take a look at what has been made. In addition to this there is a monthly interview with a guest artist 

So, what happened in January? Well, we started by looking to another craft for inspiration. A while back I had taken an online class about making coiled baskets from recycled fabrics and started considering how I could use what I learned there and apply it to mosaics. It turned out there were lots of ways to do this.

Not only did the coiled baskets inspire a whole host of beautiful mosaics, but I also invited the instructor of the online course, Ruth Woods, to come and talk to us about her craft. This was such a fun interview, exploring the connections between different crafts and the places we look for inspiration. One of Ruth’s baskets can be seen in the image below. Hopefully you can see how it might inspire some creative mosaic making.

Image credit: Ruth Woods

We actually had two artist interviews in January, because I also wanted to include a mosaic artist. The second interview was with Helen Miles and was equally as fascinating. She shared the stories behind some of the mosaics she had made and it was moving to hear her reasons for making the mosaics and for the inclusion of particular materials or design elements. You can see in the image here, one of the mosaics she spoke about, which she made for her 25th wedding anniversary.

Image credit: Helen Miles

I have to say, I loved doing these interviews - it’s such a privilege to be able to talk to people about their creations, to learn what has inspired them to make, and to go beyond the surface and hear the stories and thought processes behind the art.

But what I enjoyed most of all this month was seeing everyone embrace the prompt with such enthusiasm. As people shared their creations in our community group it just filled me with joy and brought a big smile to my face.  

Take a look at some of the pieces that were created. While everyone had started with the same prompt, the mosaics were so varied in terms of colours and materials. I love them all! 

So as we go into the second month of membership, the elements I wanted to build into the programme are starting to take shape.  There is now a month’s worth of recordings from the live sessions available for new members to watch, along with handouts and training videos. 

But the best thing is that members are not only talking to each other and sharing their work, but they are being inspired by each other too. They each bring with them their own approaches and experiences, creating a rich learning environment for everyone. So they learn from each other as well as from me. 

We might only be a month into this membership but it is exciting and so far I love it. I can’t wait to see what February brings!

If you are interested in joining the membership when it launches to the public at the end of March, you can find out more here