Mary Tapogna

I was born and raised in Springfield, Ohio. 
I moved to Portland, Oregon 26 years ago from Cincinnati, Ohio.
I studied design at the University of Cincinnati, and have a BFA in Photography from the Cincinnati Art Academy.
 
Upon first moving to Portland, I worked as a photographer at The Oregonian Newspaper. This journalism experience was an education coming right from art School. I eventually started dabbling with the mosaic art medium to the point of exhibiting my work, and doing large and small scale commissions.
  
I have exhibited my work throughout the country, and have my own Art Studio called Hail Mary, in Portland. My work covers a range of sometimes religious and secular themed portraits, crosses, rosaries, lamps, tables, votives, and vases etc… My mosaic portraits are fabricated using accumulated materials, images, and layering.  I work mainly from my own photographic images to create the portraits. Gathering materials from my immediate surroundings, I try to utilize what is discarded and/or found.
 
I’ve been doing private and public art commissions (Interstate Light Rail, McMenamins, prAna, Fire on the Mountain, Maryville Nursing Home, etc…), in Portland, Oregon,  Denver Colorado, and San Diego California. Most recently, I  completed an art residency and a public art piece (for the front grounds) of The Catamount Arts Center in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
 
My Mosaics take anywhere from one week to one year to complete, depending upon size, and the challenge of the individual project. I am inspired by traditional mosaics that utilize many tiny pieces of tile and glass. I strive for the same intricacy in my work, yet using unorthodox as well as traditional materials.
 
Amongst my mosaic repertoire, I create beautiful and textural lighting. I hand craft the lamps individually, so they are each, 'one of a kind'. My mosaic work is popping up around the globe in public as well as in many private spaces.

I am a professional member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA).
 -Mary Tapogna
http://www.marytapogna.com/