Joanie Callen is a mosaic artist living in Bend Oregon. Her love of color, especially strong saturated colors dominate her work.

Fascinated with the mosaic art form, Joanie studied classical mosaics in Ravenna, Italy.  The technique learned was the ancient Byzantine method of setting tesserae (pieces of glass) directly into a mortar bed.  This Italian experience inspired her to translate the ancient technique into a modern interpretation.

Joanie’s current focus is to include customizing fused glass shapes and a multitude of complicated beading to accentuate her creatures.

Joanie is always on the lookout for interesting forms and creatures to apply a multitude of objects in order to create a magical mosaic art sculpture. She does not really start out with a plan but says that the creatures seem to create themselves as she progresses with their development.  One minute they are plain and lifeless and after adding an eye, an eyebrow, a beaded face, or a curly tail, all of a sudden they are on their way to becoming a personality to be reckoned with.