Prey or Predator by mosaic artist David Chidgey

Prey or Predator

Ilana encourages us to "play" with the materials we have brought and to share with others so that there will be abundance. She tells us that it is not the shape you are looking for, rather how it combines with another piece.

Again and again the question is, "does it look interesting?" Ilana shares with us her way of "playing" and then revising, starting over and over until the playful juxtaposition of materials results in something interesting to look at. And then an idea is born. Gosh, if I change this and this and that, it really starts looking like a very interesting roadrunner.

While I have the concept now of a roadrunner, the important question that is asked again and again, "what material may be interesting to play with next to what I have in place?" The operative word is "may" and "play."

Detail of body of the bird. Materials include fossils (rattles), tile, ceramic shards, pebbles, stone, and ceramic elements.

Detail of the snake

Detail of leg and tail of the snake. The bird is getting ready to attack the snake's tail.

Detail of tail of the bird. The spiral design on the dark brown ceramic shard was was created using a liquid etching method. How many fossils can you find?

Materials include raku, semi fossilized shell, ceramic shards, pebbles, and ceramic elements (eye and plume).

In a time long ago and a world far away, colorful relatives of our modern day roadrunner and rattlesnake, get ready to do battle.

Ilana Shafir, an international artist from Askelon, Israel, devotes her time and energy to the making of mosaic art using her method referred to as "spontaneous mosaics."