Helen Bodycomb

Mosaic Artist Helen Bodycomb

Mosaicism – Thinking in Mosaic

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Mosaic is both a process and a product, action and object. It grew from ‘making special’ to become a form of durable architectural skin and lasting cultural text. Helen Bodycomb, Mosaicism 2023 ……. Why do we lose ourselves in the act of making? Is the urge to create order and permanence the only desire when we fill a void with an object or colour? In Mosaicism, Bodycomb draws on her Read More

MAANZ Victoria Branch Rep

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In July 2021 Helen was delighted to take up a role with the Mosaic Association of Australia and New Zealand (MAANZ) as Victorian Branch Rep, a joint role held together through a Steering Group with colleagues Bev Plowman and Barb Uhlenbruch. Since joining she has been active in driving the development of a Conflict of Interest Policy for MAANZ and hosted the inaugural Victorian MAANZ branch zoom Read More

Artists overcame distance and isolation to create giant mosaic installation

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THE SYNERGY PROJECT A large-scale mosaic art exhibition celebrating nature and resilience was the culmination of the year-long Synergy Project. The ground-breaking collaboration led by internationally renowned mosaic artist Helen Bodycomb and involving seven emerging artists was created across multiple locations during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020-21 in Victoria, Australia. The ambitious Read More


Mosaic: Classical Principles and The Act of Making in Contemporary Works

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  Why do a PhD in this area? Essentially, my goal is to see mosaic positioned firmly within contemporary art practice, because it is widely misunderstood yet still brimming with untapped potential. Mosaic needs increasingly higher and experimental practice, and further exploration by its many makers of its unique potential as a mode of making. My PhD thesis does not aim to encapsulate Read More

Helen Bodycomb- the Material and the Immaterial

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An in depth conversation with mosaic artist Helen Bodycomb about her practice, thinking in mosaic, the material and the immaterial, being and nothingness, the spaces in between and our place in this crazy world. She is just finishing her PHD on such matters so she has thought a lot about them. Her show at Lot 19 in Castlemaine is there for all to see. It’s beautiful, poetic and important. Helen is Read More

La Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli – The Spilimbergo School

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In 1922 La Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli (the Spilimbergo school) was established in the small northern Italian town of Spilimbergo and is today the world’s leading contemporary school of mosaic.  Nestled within the strategically important nexus of the Tagliamento River floodplains at the foot of the Dolomites and close to the northern Adriatic coastline in Friuli-Venezia Giulia[1], the region has Read More

Mosaics of Northern Italy Tour

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A highlight of 2017, Helen leading the inaugural Mosaics of northern Italy Tour, to Venice, Spilimbergo and Ravenna. Here are some photos from the tour: Learning the double reverse method with Arianna Gallo, Koko Mosaico, Ravenna Italy. 2018 Mosaics of Northern Italy Tour Due to popular demand, Helen conducted another tour again from 14-28 May, 2018. For more information please read this Read More

Main FM Interview

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Interview with Helen Bodycomb on her visit to the Venice Biennale on Recommended Daily Intake with Frank Forster, Friday 4 August, 2017. Listen here. Read More

Mosaic in the Contemporary World

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2016 AIMC CONGRESS Mosaic in the Contemporary World: 18-22 May 2016 SPILIMBERGO, ITALY When I first heard that the 2016 AIMC* Congress was going to be hosted by the Spilimbergo School (La Scuola di Mosaicisti del Friuli) in northern Italy, I knew that by hook or by crook I had to be there. *AIMC – L’Associazione Internazionale Mosaicisti Contemporanei (The International Association Read More

Making Mosaics in the Anthropocene Era

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Anthropo (man) + cene (new) In 2014 an American oceanographic research vessel traversing the waters off Hawaii’s Big Island came across an entirely new form of geology. Geologist Patricia Corcoran and Captain Charles Moore documented their findings from active volcanic beach environments, labeling these new types of rock ‘plastiglomerates’. They have been created through the fusion of plastics, Read More

Helen Bodycomb: The Age and Sydney Morning Herald

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Helen Bodycomb featured in The Age & Sydney Morning Herald June 26 2015 Castlemaine mosaic artist Helen Bodycomb began her working life as a flute teacher but has always perceived the world in highly visual terms, particularly patterns. As a child she loved making things with her hands using a stash of cardboard, string, boxes and egg cartons she kept under her bed. As a teenager, her dad Read More

RKM- Road Kill Mausoleum

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RKM COLLECTIVE
 Helen Bodycomb – RKM Set Design and Mosaic, The Pieta Ulrike Barbara von Radichevich – RKM Set Design and Production Jilli Rose – Amnesiac
(Animation) Davide Michielin – Sarcophagus (Film) RKM is a multi-media architectural installation that was first exhibited at the 2015 Castlemaine State Festival (13th – 22nd March 2015), as part of the curated Visual Art Read More

Arts & Edges Kalgoorlie Summit

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Arts & Edges Kalgoorlie Summit In October 2014 I was thrilled to be able to attend the 2014 Regional Arts Australia Summit – titled ‘Arts and Edges’. Held over 4 days in the rather remote and unique location of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, it was always going to be somewhat of an adventure just in getting there. So I stepped well out of my comfort zone and seized the opportunity to wing Read More

Helen teaching in Houston USA 2014

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Helen teaching in Houston USA 2014 Having been a presenter and conducted workshops at SAMA conferences in 2008 (Miami) and 2010 (Chicago) it will be wonderful to return to the States in 2014. I lived in New Hampshire for 3 years as a small child and so any return to the USA holds special meaning for me. I have many great friends and esteemed colleagues there. I genuinely love teaching - Read More

2014 Sydney UBD/ Gregory’s Street Directory

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2014 Sydney UBD Directory Its flattering to have an out of the blue phone call from a publisher, asking permission to use one of your artworks to grace the cover of a widely distributed publication (even if it is ‘just’ a street directory). I was delighted that the image chosen is a crop of the iconic Bondi Surf Club lifesavers by Enver Camdal and me, part of a 27 piece Sydney street furniture Read More

2013 MAANZ Exhibition

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1st Prize in the 2013 MAANZ Exhibition On Friday 24 August 2013 I was honoured to be awarded 1st Prize for wall mounted work in the 2013 MAANZ Exhibition ILLUMINATE at Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre, for my work ATTITUDE. ATTITUDE shows a sulphur crested cockatoo crest feather, unintentionally flicked into my garden from the head of a screeching cocky in a moment of unbridled emotional Read More

Niche Interest @ The City Library

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Niche Interest @ City Library The exhibition  NICHE INTEREST is on 5th August until the 25th @ City Library at 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. The exhibition features small artworks by Helen Bodycomb, Tony Bowen and Rachel Bremner, installed in wall niches and display cabinets throughout the ground floor of the library. This exhibition is open every day until 4 pm on Sunday 25 Read More

The Divided Heart

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The Divided Heart: Art and Motherhood A divided heart; a split self; the sense that to succeed at one means to fail at the other. Do women still confront the attitude that a dedicated artist will avoid having children for the sake of her career? In The Divided Heart, Australia’s most respected artists, writers and actors speak frankly about the wrench between motherhood and their artistic Read More

Ancient Mosaic Essay

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Ancient Mosiacs And their Conversation with the new I liken Greek and Roman Mosaics to really good red wine. The first swig is never the tastiest, but as the palate acclimatises great depths of beauty are revealed. There is much I admire about ancient mosaics, on many levels. The logic and elegance of andamento – the directional laying of tesserae to render form, and the visual vibrations Read More

Detritus Exhibition

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DETRITUS 7th March - 7th April 2013 PUBLIC INN Cnr Mostyn & Barker Streets, Castlemaine and RE-PUBLIC 26 Templeton Street, Castlemaine In addition to giving 2 artists talks at Public Inn (Wednesday 20 March 3pm and Friday 22 March 3pm), Helen will open her Lot 19 studio to visitors on Tuesday 19 and Thursday 21 March from 11am–2pm. See the Castlemaine State Festival Program Map B, for Read More

A few of my favourite Mosaics

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A Selection of my Favourite Mosaics Manga Medusa One day whilst René and I were working in the studio, he misheard something I said about a possible future mosaic we might make. René thought he heard me make reference to a Manga Medusa mosaic. We were both amused by the thought of a hybrid of Medusa (the serpent-haired monster from Greek mythology, the sight of which turned all living things Read More

Helen Bodycomb in the New York Times

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New York Times Article This is an excerpt from a New York Times Article on Helen & Ravenna Mosaico Mosaic is one of the oldest of the decorative arts and developed into one of the most spectacular. From humble beginnings in such forms as pebbles pressed in patterns into beaten earth floors, at its high points during Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine times mosaic became a sophisticated fine Read More

World Within, World Without: Mosaic Installation

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World Within, World Without Mosaic Installation in Southbank At 11am on Tuesday the 16th November 2009 an apology was made by the Prime Minister of Australia to the 'Forgotton Australians', being children with aboriginal parents removed from their families due to the government policies of the day. 'Sorry Day' was for many people one of those 'where were you when it happened' moments (in my Read More

Works from the World

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Ravenna Mosaico: Ravenna Italy RavennaMosaico presents itself as a showcase of the best contemporary productions and offers thoughts on the vocation of the city, in the light of the candidature of Ravenna as European Capital of Culture for 2019. The event will involve the entire city and cultural institutions in a program dedicated to the contemporary mosaic, proposing in the most Read More

Ravenna Mosaico

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Ravenna Mosaico: Italy Ravenna Mosaico was an extraordinary, biennial event organized by the International Association of Contemporary Mosaicists and the Comune di Ravenna.  This delightful town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Byzantine mosaic treasures, is claiming the right to be seen as the global nexus for contemporary mosaics – and they are doing a great job of it. There were Read More

Helen Bodycomb