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Editor’s note: This is the second in the ‘Meet the Artist’ series of artisans scheduled at the Pine Hills Retirement Community

HOT SPRINGS – This month’s artist, Annie Touliatos Thorstenson, is a mistress of mosaics, using the jewels she finds in nature to create unique mosaic sculptures. “So much of my inspiration comes from observing the natural world and pondering the vastness of the heavens,” said Thorstenson, who calls the grout she uses to cement the pattern together “cosmic space dust.”

Thorstenson started making mosaic masterpieces about four years ago. She has many years of experience in working with ceramics. “My parents’ best friends were potters and we would go to the studio and make presents for our parents,” she said of the memory of her beginning fascination with clay. “I’ve always played in the clay,” she said.

She has a horticultural background and particularly enjoys incorporating plants into her creations, using a technique called “imprinting,” pressing plant leaves and parts into a bed of cellulose clay. “Cellulose clay is a clay body that has a high fiber content that burns off in the kiln,” she said. It is lighter weight and good for platters and wall hangings.

A new direction for Thorstenson is plant imprinting in silver. “Silver clay is a byproduct of the photo developing industry,” she said about the shiny material that may evolve into jewelry. Movement, brilliant colors or shiny reflective surfaces are in most all of her pieces. “Creating is irresistible for me,” said Thorstenson in her Artist’s Statement. “I feel new, remade, and my eyes see the world in a fresher, more beautiful way.”

She describes the process from inspiration to completion. “When I begin thinking about a piece, I vaguely see a color or a texture. I find all the pieces and arrange them around me to discover how they fit together,” she said. She starts with a feature piece, usually an imprinted surface, and places it in a prominent position, then works around it, adding glass of some kind, or crystals, or whatever material resonates with her.

She glues each piece into position, and applies sanded grout, usually black. She completes the piece by finishing the edges with paint and sealing the entire piece with a light coat of varnish. “Once the piece is finished, it goes to Andy (her husband), who attaches hangers,” she said, adding that their four-year old son, Rowan, is receiving training in this part of the process.

“The kids are involved in almost every step,” she said. Seven year-old Autumn and Rowan accompany her on hikes to gather plants and rocks and also make their own clay creations, like pinch pots, turtles and snakes.

“I got into mosaics because I had all these different materials – rocks, stones, crystals, wood, glass, plants – and I wanted to put them together,” she said with assertion of her belief. “It’s a metaphor for humanity, all the different shapes and textures are expressions of all of us, giving us the opportunity to live artfully together.”

Thorstenson said she appreciated the opportunity to demonstrate her works through the Meet the Artist series and applauded the efforts of Barry Epstein, marketing director at Pine Hills Retirement Community, the series venue. “It’s wonderful he’s choosing this as one of his marketing avenues,” she said.

Thorstenson and her works will be at Pine Hills Retirement Community, 2711 Highway 18 in Hot Springs, on Thursday, April 10, at 7 p.m. For more information contact Pine Hills at 745-5555.