MOSAIC OF ART - Episode 27. Dec. 12th, 2010 3-4pm EST

Readers and fans of Mosaic Art Now - the magazine, web site & blog will want to mark their calendars for a "date" with Nancie Mills Pipgras, this Sunday's LIVE guest. She will join me in the second half of the show to discuss MAN's newly-released publication plans - and most notably the winners of the Exhibition in Print. She will also share her perspective on "What's the definition of Mosaic - who cares and why?" This will be the topic of a panel discussion at the SAMA conference in Austin in February. Would you like to call in while the show's on? The number is 646.721.8943. First, I'm airing interviews with guests from Art Basel to discuss art/craft issues - and just begin to highlight some notable work from among the thousands on view in Miami at the beginning of the month. One of my lines of inquiry was unusual materials - what are leaves, and push pins and dominoes doing in prestigious galleries. Does it make no difference what the medium is, so long as the message is compelling? Is YOUR favorite medium rope, phone books, basketry, sugar, Plastilene, tar, leaves.... Is there a significant distinction to be made between "medium" and "material?" Witness Mondongo collective: Juliana Laffitte, Manuel Mendanha, and Agustina Picasso take on dark subjects - abuse, pollution, pormography etc. with convoluted imagery and unexpected combinations of materials: string, cheese, stickers, tar. We spoke with their gallery rep. Alex Queral carves phone books into bas reliefs of noted personalities. Philadelphia's Projects Gallery directer Peter Hyder tells the story. Leslie Ferrin is director of Ferrin Gallery in Western MA. One of her featured artists last week was Chris Antemann, whose porcelain figurines hearken to your grandmother's Meissen ware, but bring them delightfully into the 21st century. We'll hear how image and presentation play out in different venues. Lots to view and talk about. Please join the conversation. Sunday 3-4pm EST.