1: How did it start? "In the beginning
I was asked to make a mosaic frame for someone," she
remembers, "after that, I simply fell in love with
the craft." Born in cultural Dresden, Germany and
always around artists as long as she remembers, she
studied Fabric Design and painting at Hamburg Art Collage
in the 60`s. Later on her former husband George Derpapas,
well respected Greek surrealist painter continued to
encourage her in the arts, and today she still transforms
some of his paintings into rich, colorful mosaics.
2: Monika finally found her muse on
Mykonos, and anyone venturing into her cozy little art
studio there, will no doubt, be fascinated to see how she
works from thousands of obscure, delicately cut pieces of colored
stone and marble. Of course, the basic design is mapped
out in pencil at the start, then by the color, shape, and
size the stones are made to fit the design. After that,
she slowly begins to cement each tiny stone and marble
cube to a cloth surface one by one to a desired area where
the image eventually begins to emerge.
3:
As an artist, Monika is very well
aware of living in a country where mosaics have a
long-standing tradition. She says, "You know, the
earliest known mosaic work in Greece date back from the
8th century BC and were actually composed of
pebbles." Greek mythology is also one of her favorite
subjects, and at times she incorporates this subject
matter into her work. Here we have an artist who
does not shun the word "decorative" and as
Monika says, It`s just opposite of what most people
believe...my whole aim is to create decorative
objects.
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