Biography of Seattle mosaic artist Jo Braun.

Jo Braun

Born: Mitchell, South Dakota, 1971

Biography

Mitchell, South Dakota, is home to the World’s Only Corn Palace, a monumental structure covered with enormous mosaic murals made entirely of corn. But I never felt compelled to make a mosaic—out of corn or anything else—nor did I dream of becoming a professional artist. I had somehow absorbed the belief that being an artist was something that only people in big cities did—frivolous people with funny accents and a predilection for cutting off their own ears.

As Fate would have it, at age 18 I headed to college at University of Minnesota’s big-city campus in Minneapolis and began cultivating a taste for “frivolous” subjects like anthropology, French, Hebrew, and worst of all, post-modernism.

A BA in anthropology wasn’t enough, so I ploughed straight into University of Iowa’s Ph.D. program. My research carried me as far away from the prairie as one could possibly go—to mountain rainforests in Papua New Guinea and urban squatter settlements in the Solomon Islands. I survived two strains of malaria, hookworms, a knife assault, ethnic violence, and weekly church services in five denominations. I wrote my dissertation, received a paper stamped Ph.D., and found myself in the marketing department of a large Seattle corporation with a regular paycheck and benefits package, living in a nice house in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood with my husband Tom and cat Arturo.

I should have been happy, but I wasn’t--I was bored. Something was missing… I had to make a mosaic! I figured I'd need tile and grout, so I bought some at the local art supply store, along with a big piece of foamcore board to stick it on. The directions on the grout tub said I should glue the tile down with “adhesive,” so I walked to Safeway and bought some rubber cement in the school supplies section. Believe it or not, that first mosaic turned out OK, and I was happy.

Three years and thousands of studio hours later, I quit what had become just a “day job” to build Studio Ravenna LLC. With an emphasis on using salvaged and recycled materials, I’d argue that I’m anything but frivolous, and I still have both my ears. Seattleites do occasionally tell me I talk funny, “like in the movie Fargo.” I just tell them I’m an artist.

Awards

2008 - City of Tualatin, OR, Commission award in juried competition to create large scale art panel for public library.

2007 - City of Tacoma, WA, Commission award in juried competition to create large scale art panels for interior stairwell

2007 - City of Tacoma, WA, Juried portable works purchase award for In Glass Houses

2007 - City of Wenatchee, WA, Commission award in juried competition to create artwork for new Public Services Center

2007 - Crescent Village Art Competition, Juried proposal competition sponsored by Maude Kearns Arts Center, Eugene, OR, First Place

Exhibitions

2008 - Mosaic Arts International, International juried group exhibition, Bakehouse Arts Complex, Miami, FL

2007 - EnviroHouse, Tacoma, WA, Juried solo exhibition

2007 - An Ancient Lanugage-A Modern Translation, Juried invitational group exhibition, Granville Center for the Arts, Garland, TX

2007 - Mosaic Arts International, International juried group exhibition, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ

2007 - Lynnwood, WA Library Gallery, Juried joint exhibition with Corrina Miller

2007 - "Broken Light, Leaking Glass," Invitational joint exhibition with Rosanne Olson, curated by Robin Atlas

2006 Burien Fall Art Walk, Juried group exhibition, Burien, WA

2006 City of Burien, WA City Hall Gallery, Juried solo exhibition

2006 American Mosaic Project, High Risk Gallery, group exhibition, Chicago, IL

2005 Eastside Association of Fine Arts 30th Annual Juried Exhibition, Bellevue, WA

2005 Out of the Blue, Juried, City of Lynnwood, Lynnwood, WA

2005 Recycled Art Show, Juried, The RE Store, Seattle, WA

2005 A More Perfect Union, International Juried, Ellipse Arts Center, Alexandria, VA

Mosaic Art Workshops

2007 Gary Drostle, “A Master Class in the Indirect Technique,” Mesa, AZ

2006 Ilana Shafir, “The Spontaneous Mosaic,” Chicago, IL

2005 Emma Biggs, “Color, Tone, and Intensity in Fine Art Mosaic,” Washington, DC

2005 Lucio Orsoni & Giovanni Cucco, “Master Class in Fine Art Mosaic,” Angelo Orsoni School of Mosaic, Venice, Italy

Photo: Thomas Braun