My two-day vacation at the Getty Villa

I’ve been to the Getty Villa a gazillion times but I’ve always been there for a specific exhibit or a lecture or a class. I’ve never taken any of the regular tours before so I decided to remedy that. My excuse came when I discovered that Lillian Sizemore, a mosaic artist and teacher, was scheduled to give a talk and a demonstration at the Villa. So I decided to make a reservation two days in a row and do and see all the things I have never done and seen before plus view a couple of current exhibits.

On Thursday at 11:30am I started out with Point of View: Lillian Sizemore on Mosaics. As everybody knows, I have a love affair with ancient Greek and Roman mosaics. Although I certainly appreciate mosaics as an art form, my personal “point of view” comes from a historical, sociological and architectural (not to mention archaeological) perspective. I enjoy looking at an ancient mosaic and imagining how and where it would have been used, and by whom. So, although I have seen the few mosaics in the Getty collection a multitude of times, it was a treat for me to gain an artful insight into this delightful medium.

First up was the Mosaic Floor with Medusa (about 115 - 150 A.D.). Lillian pointed out the concentric circles, creating alternating black and white spirals. She mentioned that the perception might be that the ancient artists weren’t that clever but her view is that they were very intelligent, knowing exactly what they were doing. I agree. They may not have had the benefit of computers or technology, but given the tools they had to work with, their work is amazing. Personally, I have always been fascinated with geometric designs created with such implements as a compass and triangle.

Next we looked at a fountain, a copy of that in the garden of the House of the Great Fountain at Pompeii. This is my second favorite mosaic piece at the Getty Villa (oh, but it’s so hard to choose!).

My favorite mosaic in the Villa collection is Floor Mosaic with a Lion Attacking an Onager (Roman about 150). I once gave a half-hour presentation on this one mosaic. I made a full-scale print and laid it on the floor under the mosaic (which is installed horizontally on the wall) so my audience could look at it from its intended viewing point. Because of the lack of space, and museum convention, we have the unhappy situation of looking at floor mosaics from the wrong perspective as if they are wall paintings. Even when they are presented horizontally they are usually shown on a raised bed so most people never have the joy of viewing a floor mosaic from the correct position. Hence my interest in preserving mosaics in situ wherever and whenever possible (but that is a whole other blog—or book.)

When I talk about mosaics I am always amazed at the interest from my audience, be it friends or classmates or artists, maybe because mosaics have always been brushed aside as not being very important—at least the ancient kind—and therefore there is not much ongoing conversation about them compared to painting or sculpture. Or maybe people are merely being polite!

Separating the figurative image from the background in some mosaics is a single or double row of tesserae set in a curving line in the field color. I always thought of this as the lazy mosaicist’s way of defining the outline of the figure (animal, plant, human) instead of attempting to cut all the pieces so that they butt up to the colored pieces evenly, but I never realized this was actually a technique used as a rule. Aesthetically I still don’t like it, although now I know it was a purposeful technique I have more respect for it.

We moved on to Mosaic Floor with a Boxing Scene (about A.D. 175). When I tour the Getty with friends I am often asked why this is not my favorite mosaic in the collection as it is in as perfect condition as any in the museum. It is truly wonderful and I love the fact that the corners of the frame were not planned well, which says to me that the center emblamata piece was designed at the workshop and delivered to the site where the perimeter geometric mosaics were installed in place. I was happy that Lillian pointed out the corner misalignments as I think most people do not notice this. So why isn’t it my favorite? It does have an interesting story, but just not my cup of tea.

My next event was the Architecture Tour. Although I know the Getty Villa pretty well I enjoyed the perspective of the guide. He actually apologized for his interest in the mathematical proportions but I found that the most interesting part of the tour. And, in case you are wondering how the Romans figured anything out in the system of V, VII and X, they did not use that for their calculations. They had an abacus to do their calculations. One of the Chinese tourists in our group stated that, of course, the abacus had come from China. Our tour guide was not so sure, pointing out that because of trade between the two civilizations at the time, nobody knows who thought of it first.

I then joined the Culinary Garden Tour. I own a couple of cookbooks with recipes of food prepared during the Roman Empire (yes, I am sure I lived during that period as I feel so at home with everything that occurred during that time). The docent described the plants, herbs and fruits growing in the Getty gardens that were used for culinary purposes.

My last tour of the day was Life in a Roman Villa but it was not what I expected and in any case, by then I was tired and my ADHD was kicking in big time, so it was time to leave for the day.

Once again I was in awe of the majestic views of the Pacific Ocean as I drove along Pacific Coast Highway towards Santa Monica and the entrance to the freeway.

Day two of my vacation at the Getty Villa I attended Lillian Sizemore’s Artist-at-Work Demonstration: Mosaics. Lillian is an amazing artist in this very difficult medium. I have tried to put together a few small mosaics myself and it is no easy task, which is why I have such great respect for the ancient mosaicists. Lillian showed us how to cut the stones into pieces of tesserae with the hammer and hardie. As I have managed to cut myself with knives and scissors over the years I am not sure this would be a suitable profession for me!

She had several examples of different kinds of mosaics on display. I was most intrigued by the sample of opus sectile (translated as cut work) which had the effect of looking paper thin.

I wanted to stay longer but I was off to explore the outdoors with the Garden Tour. The Villa has four gardens. One of the most ubiquitous plants in the gardens is the acanthus which inspired the Roman (originally Greek) Corinthian columns. In the herb garden there is a lovely example of an Italian Stone Pine tree.

As I have been to the Getty Villa so many times, on this trip I decided to take some photos of the flooring and walls, so along with a few shots of Lillian’s tour and some photos of the gardens, that is what you will see in the slide show.

I had intended to return to Lillian’s workshop in the afternoon and take some more photos of her working on a mosaic but I made the mistake of answering my phone and duty called. Every time I visit the Villa I think I don’t need to go back for a while as I have seen everything. But there is something magical about that museum that keeps calling me back and I know I will be returning soon.

Click here for photo gallery.

(All photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Lillian Sizemore's Mosaics Newsletter

I am a big fan of Lillian Sizemore. She is a mosaic artist who began working in tile and glass mosaics in 1995.

I first stumbled upon her a couple of years ago when I attended a seminar at the Getty Villa on the history of mosaics. She showed some samples of her public work around the San Francisco area (and that of other artists too). Later I took a one-day mosaic-making class with her, again at the Getty Villa.

This summer she taught a two-weekend workshop in Long Beach I would love to have attended but it wasn't the right time. I hope she will schedule another workshop soon, preferably in West Los Angeles!

The reason for this post is that I just received the first issue of her e-newsletter which you can read and subscribe to by clicking here.

And you can read more about her at her website.
(Photo copyright Lillian Sizemore)

Ancient Mosaics Among the Saguaros

One of the many niceties about going to the Getty Villa for an event is the drive along Pacific Coast Highway with the view of that seemingly endless blue ocean... LA has so many facets to it, and the Pacific Ocean is certainly a good enough reason to live here, even if I don't make the attempt to see it as often as I could... but I digress (my favorite thing to do).

And so, Thursday morning my car was headed back to her favorite parking spot at the Villa, this time to take me to the one-day class, "Ancient Stones in Modern Contexts" taught by Lillian Sizemore. In the morning we discussed ancient and modern mosaics in general, toured the four mosaics on display (which I pretty much know by heart now, although always noticing something new each time I see them), then visited the exhibition "Jim Dine: Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets)", a contemporary installation inspired by scupltures in the collection.

The idea was for us to design our own mosaic based on the ancient mosaics we had viewed that morning. I did a preliminary sketch of grape leaves in a geometric pattern but I had no enthusiasm for it. After a short meditation I saw a vision of saguaros in the southwest with mountains against a sunset. I had no idea where this came from or how it would translate into what was supposed to be a geometric mosaic, especially as we had to use the pieces without cutting them, but there it was, so I proceeded to lay it out on my board.

As the design progressed I realized I had gotten myself into more than I could deal with and part of me had the strong desire to wipe all the mosaic stones off and start over with something more organized, but as we only had a couple of hours to work it was too late. Nevertheless, another part of me was compelled to see the outcome of this mess.

Regardless of my design choice, I have to say I enjoyed the process, of being in the moment, and the realization that no matter the outcome I was creating something that had never existed before. That, to me, is the beauty of the creative process: the opportunity to give birth to an entity entirely new with a life of its own.

Even though, as one of my classmates expressed, the Jim Dine exhibit was not my cup of tea, I "got" what he was doing. This mosaic was my expression of all the influences of that day and of my entire life.

Later, reflecting on what I had done with the mosaic I understood where my inspiration came from. Looking at the mosaics had tapped into my love of archaeology in general and specifically, the project I am working on currently, drawings and photos from an excavation in the southwest US. The images in the mosaic are not just saguaros, but as another classmate commented, look like some of the Indian petroglyphs and pictographs to be found on rocks and cliffsides. So perhaps my subconscious mind was weaving together the designs left by the ancient Romans with those of the Indians. Stones hewn from the mountainsides, rocks and cave walls painted, pebbles and clay taken from the earth. It's all the same. Art is what ties us all together.

[As a side note, one of the many things I learned this day was the technique of dry grouting. Because these mosaic stones are very porous, it's not a good idea to apply wet grout. Instead, you can sprinkle the dry grout over the finished piece, let it fall into the spaces and brush off the excess powder. Then spray the piece with water, carefully clean off any grout that has bubbled up over the stones and let dry. Repeat this process until the grout is as you want it. I am in the process of doing this. Very useful advice for grouting my framed tiles as well, as the wet grout sometimes mars the wood frames. I'm going to try it with my latest tiles.]

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)