MOSAIC ARTIST - ANDRINA ROUT
We’re honoured to introduce you to Andrina Rout, an Australian mosaicist, living in Germany, whose creative path has been heavily influenced by her European travels. In fact, Andrina was studying in Ravenna at the time of this interview but generously took some time to answer our questions. Please enjoy this insight into a devoted Andamento Academy Member’s passions and practice.
I saw the mosaics in St Marks Basilica and fell in love with the intense colour, the gold, the reflectivity…
I can’t really explain it,
I just loved it!
Andrina’s mosaic journey began in 1985 when she left Australia for the very first time to visit Europe….
Fast forward several years, and while in recovery from illness, Andrina’s Doctor ordered her to “do something for yourself” and the memory of those impressive mosaics was stirred.
Travel and mosaic have become inseparable for Andrina, and her sister, Jennifer, who is a constant companion on their adventures, searching out mosaics everywhere they go!
I found a course in Ravenna – in classical techniques, and thought I would go once – but that was in 2017 and I’ve been back to Ravenna nearly every year since!
Images: Andrina working on a recent piece at Koko Mosaico, Ravenna Italy.
Andrina’s reproduction of Saint Eudoxia, Sofia, Bulgaria
Andrina’s reproductions of Doto, the sea nymph, (Toulouse, France)
Andrina’s reproduction of The Gypsy Girl (Zeugma, Türkiye)
Finding the Art of Andamento has further reinforced the skills she is constantly striving to improve.
“I have learnt how to work more freely because the classical foundation and rules are in place, creating a scaffold of safety, which gives me the confidence to be more experimental without creating chaos.”
While working nearly full time, Andrina finds mosaic in the margins – working for short periods in between appointments, mainly cutting with the hammer and hardie, which she finds very rhythmic and relaxing. Longer blocks of time are dedicated to completing projects, evenings are spent reading about art or mosaic and keeping notebooks to jot down ideas and collect pictures for future projects.
Level 4 Lily Study
Level 5 Still Life Study
Level 4 Shell Study
What advice would you give someone starting out in mosaic?
1. Keep going! Allow yourself the freedom to learn, which means messing up, or seeing that you’ve missed the point or gone off on a tangent and having to rework and area… I used to spend way too much time worrying about the colour and exact size and shape of each tessera and lose the plot on the andamento and overall shape.
2. Step back from your work, or take a photo and assess the overall effect regularly.
3. Try different materials and tools: I love marble and the hammer and hardie, I love micro mosaic on clay – but it’s not for everyone.
4. Find out what you love to do and how you work best.
Follow Andrina on Instagram
