JK Mosaic: Joanne Daschel, Environmental Mosaic Artist

Last week, I started writing about some of the creative people in my social circle who inspire me. Each day, I look forward to checking my facebook and instagram feeds because they are filled with posts about art and nature, and it uplifts and motivates me.

Today's blog post is about Joanne Daschel. I first met Joanne while teaching a workshop in Hillsboro, Oregon on precision glass cutting for mosaic. There were about 20 students, and Joanne was quiet and needed very little help. She was a quick learner and brought her own style to the project, so she knew what she wanted to do. I spent a lot more time helping other students, but I noticed that Joanne was already skilled in the medium.

This is Joanne in that first class, having cut a narrow, inverted curve that would become part of a peach.

I think it was during that first meeting that Joanne told me about The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, where she works part-time. She suggested I teach a workshop there, so we corresponded afterward and within about a year, I did get on the Sitka schedule. The class filled up right away, and I was happy to see that Joanne was one of my students again. This time, I taught a glass-on-glass workshop, where students made a translucent mosaic on a reclaimed window.

This was Joanne's window! It still hangs in her studio.

I spent 3 days in Lincoln City, OR while teaching the workshop, and Joanne was a great host, taking me around to meet local artists, showing me the good places to eat and drink, and showing off the amazingly beautiful landscape on that part of the Oregon coast. Conversation flowed easily and we became good friends very quickly.

The view from Cascade Head.

Since then, I've taught each summer at Sitka, and there have been other opportunities to spend time together at workshops, art events and the SAMA conference. Joanne is funny, smart and insightful, and I learn something new and surprising about her every time we hang out. She is a very skilled artist. Examples of early drawings are on display in her house, and they are outstanding. Her work focuses on the natural world, including the food we eat. Joanne was landscaper until her body began to suffer. Now she balances her job at the Sitka Center where she is surrounded by artists and environmentalists who are teaching and learning, with her personal work in her awesome studio located in the Lincoln City Cultural Center.

Joanne teaches workshops and holds open studio hours, and she is constantly creating new work that celebrates the natural world and her connection to it. When Joanne isn't working at Sitka or in her studio, she's either in her own garden or hiking. When you see her work, you sense her passion for the things that sustain us.

I could keep gushing about Joanne, but I have a tendency to make my posts too lengthy. Be sure to look her up on social media to see more of her work. Right now, she's working on a series, making a 6" x 6" mosaic every day in tandem with painter Katia Kyte. These will be on display at the Chessman Gallery in Lincoln City, opening on August 10th. I'll be there! (I'm teaching a workshop on light and shadow in mosaic that week at Sitka.) It is worth a trip to this beautiful area. (*Also, we will both be at the reception for another version of the Chiaroscuro group exhibit in McMinnville the following evening, August 11. I'll post details as we get closer.)

More of us, for fun: