The Collective Series: Hello Aga, give us a brief introduction about yourself.

Aga Kwiatkowska: I’ve always been a very creative person. As a child in Poland, I used to make little figurines from old cables and dress them in tiny dresses made of grass and flower petals. As a teenager, I made my own jewellery and sewed my own bags and pants without a sewing machine. I was always busy “making things”.

When I was really bored, I painted things around me in my room. As a child, I wanted to become a hairdresser. I thought cutting and shaping people’s hair was the most creative thing ever. Also, 90s haircuts were the coolest!

TCS: Describe yourself in three words.

AK: Inquisitive, dreamer, open-minded

TCS: Favorite song now on repeat?

AK: Gorillaz - Severed Head (PRESS PLAY)

To help us get to know the creatives a little more. We’ve created a series of questions to ask the Collectives to see what makes them so unique.

For the second edition, we speak to mosaic artist Aga Kwiatkowska based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

“While mosaic practice demands from us the discomfort of the unknown, at the same time it is also grounding us in the present, and it teaches us that everything that exists has its purpose, that we’re all parts of a whole.”

TCS: Experimentation and creativity go hand in hand. What do you do to explore beyond your style of design and routine?

AK: I’ve been taught several mosaic styles and techniques, some of the traditional, some even ancient. There are a lot of rules when trying to follow a particular style. Since graduating from Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli, I took the time to really delve into mosaic making as a practice rather than as a set of guidelines to follow and as a way to express myself. I think I’ve gotten much freer in my approach, and I allow myself to work intuitively and sometimes against the canon.

TCS: What challenges you?

AK: With free composition works. There are always a million possibilities when choosing the next piece to add to a mosaic. Being an overthinker. The idea that there are infinite choices of solving a spatial problem with arranging the tesserae the size, the colour, the texture has always been a little intimidating and scary.

To me, mosaic art is to constantly take risks and make decisions before I’m able to see the result. While mosaic practice demands from us the discomfort of the unknown, at the same time it is also grounding us in the present, and it teaches us that everything that exists has its purpose, that we’re all parts of a whole.

TCS: Think of yourself as a creative therapist – what would you say to fellow artists stuck in a creative rut in the midst of COVID?

AK: This is something I’ve heard Ashley Longshore said, and it is so valuable. Start small, give yourself a little positive pep talk for each small achievement in your day starting with brushing your teeth, making bed and shower. You didn’t have to do it at all, but you did it! You are awesome, and you look fabulous! You rock!

TCS: What advice did you get that was the most rewarding?

AK: Do not identify yourself with your art.

TCS: What made you laugh out loud?

AK: Anything Ashley Longshore says.

TCS: What inspires you?

AK: I’m inspired by nature and the materials itself. I love working with the natural stones they are so captivating. I love discovering entire works of art inside of a rock and stories about our place in the universe written by time.

TCS: Your proudest work so far?

AK: I’m very proud of my latest series called Silence. I am absolutely mind blown that such a hard element as stone can create the softest and subtle transitions, fluidity and depth.

TCS: What can we expect to see from you in the future?

AK: I have 30 ideas per minute and mosaic making is time-consuming, so I have to use my time wisely. I have several new projects on my mind, and they are all very different, the ideas that keep popping in my head are revolving. To further exploration of fluidity and incorporating figurative elements into abstract concepts.

www.auroramosaics.com