The new Indigo Gallery at 1607 King Street in Old Town has opened, and the opening exhibition features the mosaic art of Nina Tisara. 
 
Tisaras venture into the ancient art of mosaics is an easy introduction to this historical art form.  Its also a thought provoking example of late life creativity.  It celebrates a new stage in the creative evolution of one of Alexandrias most respected artists.
 
The best artists re-create themselves, constantly pushing their boundaries. Some changes are influenced by external circumstances. The painter Matisses blindness pushed him to cut into colored paper and produce “cut-outs”. Other changes come from age related internal changes. The world looks different at later stages of life. Grandma Moses put down her needles and picked up a paintbrush for the first time in her sixties.
 
Tisaras mosaics offer a rare opportunity to see this evolutionary process at work. For almost three decades she has faithfully photographed our communal life. Her special talent is depicting intimacy. Her images remind us of the glue that binds Alexandrians, from public festivals, worship, civic ceremonies to private rituals. And now, in her sixties, she starts making mosaics. She moves from working in two dimensions, using paper and a black and white palette, into three dimensions, using rainbow hued tiles and cement.
 
Tisaras mosaics belie her photographic background. Photographs are made by light. Good photographers, and Tisara is one of our best, know how to produce tonal variations. Rich blacks are combinations of subtle shades of black. Lighter areas are shades of grey, one grey tone blending softly into another tone. Her mosaics have this nuanced appreciation of color. The subtle shading of one color into the next leads your eye easily around the surface. After selecting the color of the porcelain tile, she nips it into a shape which best serves her image. The varying thicknesses of the tiles enhance their light reflecting potential. Tisara compares this process to her early work in clay and sculpture and later work in her darkroom. “I work on it until I get it right” she comments.
 
The show juxtaposes photographs and mosaics of the same image. But this sameness serves to magnify the effects of the different media. Huntley Meadows is a favorite meditation spot. Her crisp, pristine black and white images of its vine draped trees dappled with sunlight induce thoughts of the vastness of nature. Her mosaic of the same trees is impressionistic, reminiscent of sunlight and foliage, its shimmering tile surface changing color as you walk around it.  A beautiful object to hold, examine and explore.  And contemplate hanging on your wall in a sunny spot next to a comfortable chair. This art brings immediate, sensual gratification.
 
Her teacher, Gene Sterud, an archeologist who discovered Roman mosaics while digging in the Levant, notes that she developed her signature style “as a result of her aesthetic taste”. Her show includes images not easily available to photographers, from a bodhisattva to (my favorite) serious looking angels.
 
Joy Chambers is an attorney and photographer who lives in Alexandria.