PERSONAL DETAILS
Lady Magdalene Theocharis was born in 1954 in Lamia,Greece. She currently lives and works in
Athens where she has a private workshop.
ART STUDIES
For many years, Magdalene Theocharis studied mosaic art combining her theoretical grounding
with the mastery of traditional and contemporary mosaic materials and techniques having mosaic
artists, painters, sculptors, and mosaic conservators of high distinction as teachers.
CURRENT MEMBERSHIP
February 2002: Member of the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics
(ASPROM), London.
February 2002: Member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists (SAMA), S. Carolina, USA.
June 2001: Member of the British Association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM), Exeter, UK.
March 2001: Member of the Greek Decorators and Morphologists Union, Athens.
October 2000: Member of AIMC (Associazione Internazionale dei Mosaicisti Contemporanei),
based in Ravenna.
STATEMENT OF THE ARTIST
It was mainly in the Mediterranean that “painting on stone” according to Pliny, and “painting
of eternity” according to Ghirlandajo was born and developed. So do I believe.
My first introduction to mosaic art was as a child of 12 years, being taught about mosaic
technique during Byzantine times by high school teacher of Fine Arts, Mrs. Zachari. Since then,
my love for this monumental form of art is leading me with patience, persistence and dedication
to be creative.
As regards the themes which I derive from antiquity, I follow the technique of faithful copying
based on ancient prototypes.
For mosaicking directly on lime mortar, I would prepare a drawing of the proposed theme, trace
it on the grout into which I would dip marble, granite, enamel and stone tesserae. Then I would
embed the work into a permanent wooden panel.
Mosaicking indirectly (reverse technique) after Byzantine style of iconography, I would glue the
tesserae on a transparent surface with the flipped prototype underneath as a guide. Then the
process of spreading the mortar and peeling off of the transparent surface…etc would start.
When using the “fresco” technique for the same style, I would trace the pattern right to a
permanent sandy lime surface into which I would outline it and start to mosaic.
As for modern mosaic creations, I would use the “intarsia” technique for decorating wood or
stone surfaces, or I would just glue the tesserae to a permanent wooden panel or to a stone,
marble or cement surface.
For my mosaics I would use a wide selection of materials comprising granite, marble, pebble,
stone, and ceramic tesserae which I take from nature, precious and semi-precious stones,
vitreous tiles which I myself bake, and enamel which I import from Italy.
Finally, I would like to say that some of my works have already become part of private
collections whether here in Greece or abroad. |
