Some tourists hold on to the memories of their travels through photographs. Rachel Arntson immortalizes her time in foreign places with tiny pieces of glass. After a recent trip to Norway, she began a landscape piece of a village setting based on a picture she snapped while there. A trip to Africa became a scene with a giraffe and elephant, native huts, trees and birds, a zebra and lion, surrounded by found objects she picked up. Important events in life are often marked by mosaic gifts from Arntson as well: her daughter’s wedding, a grandchild’s birth.
It may have all started early in life, when at age 9 she completed an eggshell mosaic of Jesus and Mary (a piece she has kept to this day), but her passion for mosaic art got a big boost much later in life. Arntson’s daughter, Kelsey, was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 6 years old. She recovered and is now 27 and married, but it was a scary time for the family.
As her kids got older, a habit of walking every day grew into a desire to run. “I ran track in school but I was not very good or very ambitious,” Arntson says. She started with endurance racing, biking and cross-country skiing. Soon she was running half marathons. She decided to tackle the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth for her first excursion into full length competitive racing. “I was 60 years old and had just become a grandma for the first time and thought it was some kind of sign. That was stupid!”
The race day that year was 84 degrees with very high humidity. It turned into a 5 hour, 51 minute ordeal. But she did finish, and has run 11 races since then over the past six years with the help of Team In Training, an organization that provides coaches, training apps, clinics and fundraising support to teams of people who train together for race events. Each member raises funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) while racing.
This was the tie Arntson was looking for to honor her daughter’s childhood recovery. It propelled her into holding get-togethers in her air-conditioned garage studio where invited guests could learn to make mosaics using all the studio’s supplies. It was a real boon for anyone interested in learning.
“It’s therapy,” she says. “I like to be with people.”
Participants donate funds to LLS (“People tend to donate $40 to $100, and some as high as $500,” she says.), Arntson gets to enter races and share her passion for mosaics in the mix. It’s a perfect combo for all involved.
Arntson is a member of the MN Mosaic Guild and also teaches mosaic classes at the Maple Grove Art Center. You can join one of her classes this month and learn to make a mosaic guitar.
On these pages, Arntson shares the impetus behind some of her work. Each piece is specifically linked to a memory or event. And, with the number of hours it takes to make one of the mosaics, it is truly a labor of love.
ome tourists hold on to the memories of their travels through photographs. Rachel Arntson immortalizes her time in foreign places with tiny pieces of glass. After a recent trip to Norway, she began a landscape piece of a village setting based on a picture she snapped while there. A trip to Africa became a scene with a giraffe and elephant, native huts, trees and birds, a zebra and lion, surrounded by found objects she picked up. Important events in life are often marked by mosaic gifts from Arntson as well: her daughter’s wedding, a grandchild’s birth.
It may have all started early in life, when at age 9 she completed an eggshell mosaic of Jesus and Mary (a piece she has kept to this day), but her passion for mosaic art got a big boost much later in life. Arntson’s daughter, Kelsey, was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 6 years old. She recovered and is now 27 and married, but it was a scary time for the family.
As her kids got older, a habit of walking every day grew into a desire to run. “I ran track in school but I was not very good or very ambitious,” Arntson says. She started with endurance racing, biking and cross-country skiing. Soon she was running half marathons. She decided to tackle the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth for her first excursion into full length competitive racing. “I was 60 years old and had just become a grandma for the first time and thought it was some kind of sign. That was stupid!”
The race day that year was 84 degrees with very high humidity. It turned into a 5 hour, 51 minute ordeal. But she did finish, and has run 11 races since then over the past six years with the help of Team In Training, an organization that provides coaches, training apps, clinics and fundraising support to teams of people who train together for race events. Each member raises funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) while racing.
This was the tie Arntson was looking for to honor her daughter’s childhood recovery. It propelled her into holding get-togethers in her air-conditioned garage studio where invited guests could learn to make mosaics using all the studio’s supplies. It was a real boon for anyone interested in learning.
“It’s therapy,” she says. “I like to be with people.”
Participants donate funds to LLS (“People tend to donate $40 to $100, and some as high as $500,” she says.), Arntson gets to enter races and share her passion for mosaics in the mix. It’s a perfect combo for all involved.
Arntson is a member of the MN Mosaic Guild and also teaches mosaic classes at the Maple Grove Art Center. You can join one of her classes this month and learn to make a mosaic guitar.
On these pages, Arntson shares the impetus behind some of her work. Each piece is specifically linked to a memory or event. And, with the number of hours it takes to make one of the mosaics, it is truly a labor of love.
Classical Guitar Mosaic Workshop
When: Tuesdays Sept. 26, Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 6-9 p.m.
Cost: $135 Member / $150 Non-Member (This includes $80 for the supplies needed to complete your project.) Supply your own guitar.
Age: Must be 16+. Anyone under the age of 18 needs to be accompanied by an adult.
Size limit: 8 people.
For more information and to register, visit the website here.
