(c) Sandy Robertson All rights reserved.
Overview of the MAANZ New Mosaic Horizons Prize 2019
The MAANZ 2019 National Mosaic Exhibition was held at the Octagon ArtSpace, The Woodworks Gallery in Bungendore, NSW. A major highlight of the event was the New Horizons Mosaic Award, which was won by Sandy Robertson of Studio OzMosaics.
Robertson’s winning piece, titled “Unearthed”, sold at the exhibition for $590. The award came with a $1000 prize. The mosaic was inspired by her 2019 trip to China, specifically the Terracotta Army in Xi’an. This collection of life-size terra cotta sculptures in battle formations represents the imperial guard troops of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of Imperial China.
Robertson’s mosaic used a variety of materials including cement sheet substrate, terracotta, oxide tinted thinset, ceramic tile, Dynasty smalti, gold smalti, and terracotta pot slabs. She also used Laticrete products to push the limits of modern mosaics.
Her piece represents the transformation of the brightly colored, glazed Xi’an Chinese terracotta army warriors to grey upon exposure to light and air after 2000 years underground. The mosaic includes special tesserae surface effects, an antique golden teapot rim, glazed ceramic terracotta tile, and smalti to depict the crumbling, color transformation, and artistic armor patterns of the warriors.
In addition to the National Mosaic Exhibition, the MAANZ 30:30 Mosaic Exhibition 2019, titled “Transformations”, was held at the Australian National Botanical Gardens Gallery in Canberra from August 28 to September 29, 2019.
