New Orleans · Washington, D.C. Area
About
Caitlin Barnes.
A New Orleans mosaic artist working in glass, smalti, and gold.
Caitlin was born in New Orleans and, after years in other rooms and other cities, returned home to make things by hand. She came to mosaic slowly — first through painting, then through restoration work on old churches, then finally through the quiet insistence of a single sheet of glass held to a window.
Her studio sits above a courtyard on Magazine Street. Every piece is cut, arranged, and set there — usually over the course of weeks, sometimes months. She works in small runs; each mosaic is one of one.
artist statement
What I am after.
My work is a study in how glass carries light and how light carries memory. I am drawn to the slow physicality of mosaic — the small decisions repeated thousands of times, the andamento that gathers into a whole only near the end.
I use hand-cut smalti, stained glass, antique mirror, marble, and — when a piece asks for it — gold leaf. The materials come from many places; the work is always about this one, this house, this city, this life.
a personal invitation
Come see the work.
Cait's Reverie
Join the Reverie.
Occasional letters from the studio — new works,
upcoming exhibitions, and quiet moments
from the process.
explore
studio