I love talking to people. I did radio for 10 years so it allowed for this to happen on a regular basis. I also love interviewing people; but live and in person. Sending anyone a list of questions to answer even if they're good ones sucks. I've been testing ways to create more awareness for  creative beings I encounter online. One way is to ask a singular question in a DM, screenshot it and share it. This is also an effort to show artists how simple it is to connect and 'support' other artists.

So I slid into Amber Asakura's (a mosaic and micromosaic artist from Denver) DM who had just recently followed me to ask how she found me. 

Clearly one definite connection point was the skull above. Always Skulls is the official mantra. Amber found me through my Art Card Dispatch feature. (Shout out Lindsay!) 

C. How'd you come to the wonderful world of Mosaic creation?

Amber: I’ve always had a weird fascination with old dishes. I owned a coffee shop in Denver a long time ago and had collected a bunch of vintage plates to serve pastries on. I hung onto them for years after I sold the coffee shop even though most of them got chipped. Then I had this GORGEOUS antique jadeite mixing bowl I would eat huge salads out of. One day my now ex-husband was washing dishes and dropped it. I saved the broken pieces for like 5 years but didn’t have a plan for them. Finally in 2021 I saw a woman in Denver sharing her mosaic work and advertising a class, so I signed up. I loved the idea of taking things that would otherwise be discarded and making something new out of them. She turned out to be hella arrogant but I learned a lot and seemed to be a natural at it. I was deciding to be done with my accounting career after almost 20 years and I needed a new creative outlet to challenge me and I could finally do something with all the old plates I had been hauling around!

Then I discovered MICRO mosaics and that shit BLEW MY MIND. No one really teaches it in the states so I watched the few videos I could find and mostly figured it out on my own. I started sharing the pendants I was making and people seemed to like them. I got invited to put some pieces in a gallery show and most of them sold! That was super encouraging so I’ve kept it up. This shit has been WILD!

Now I just make whatever weird shit my creepy little heart desires and let the people who will love it find me. Right now I have a painting of my tits and a mosaic that says FUCK YEAH hanging in the lobby of the building my studio is in. I never would have imagined this shit a year ago. Soooooo much fucking gratitude!

https://thecrookedcat.com/