Pique Assiette

Written By: Ann Self - The Village Green | Issue: July - 2022

What do you do when you drop a plate, and it shatters to pieces? Most of us would reach for the dustpan seeing only a worthless pile of china to discard in the trash. But Becky sees creative possibility. In her hands, broken dishes become beautiful pique assiette mosaics.Pique assiette is a style of mosaic that incorporates ceramic objects, broken dishes and other found items into a work of art. In French, a “pique-assiette” refers to someone who is a “scrounger,” which of course fits, because most pique assiette mosaics are created with recycled or rummaged materials.A visit to Becky’s studio reveals an extensive collection of plates, decorative figurines, ceramic birds, and porcelain bas-kets of flowers.She scours flea markets, eBay, and companies that sell damaged dishware.“I have friends who give me dishes that they’ve chipped instead of throwing them away,” she says.Becky began creating pique assiette 22 years ago, when she and her husband Ed purchased their home in Cashiers.With both of her daughters in college, she discovered “found time” to pursue mosaic art and gardening.Treatment for Graves’ Disease had also changed her. Becky views this as a transformative part of her life.“I was very mathematical. Then suddenly that went out the window and I became creative.And I like the creative a lot better.” She also observes, “God’s world opened up to me.” Becky is eager to share her passion with others.She has more than 33,000 followers on TikTok where she demon-strates her art. A visit to her Tampa home studio also reveals her enthusiasm as she demonstrates the creative process for pique assiette.She covers all kinds of objects with her mosaics. She cuts pieces of ceramic with special “nippers,” or with a diamond blade saw to cut more intricate artwork from a plate. She applies a concrete adhesive to affix the pieces in a decorative design on the surface item then cleans it up and applies grout in between. The result is whimsical and wonderful.Watering cans with mosaic flowers sit on a shelf with plants in terra cotta pots with different mosaic designs. A game of hopscotch fashioned from mosaic steppingstones in the path to her garden.A statue of a dog in mosaic stands guard on the patio.He has a basket of birds in his mouth, a hummingbird on his collar, and a rooster on his head.She comments, “This is a bird dog.I did this mosaic as a tribute to Fred, the English setter that adopted us.” Each piece she creates tells a story.On a visit to Chartres, France, Becky was introduced to Raymond Isidore, a famous pique assiette artist.Isidore collected broken pieces of china in junkyards on his way home from work.He started gluing them on the outside of his house.Before he died, his entire house was covered in mosaic. Seeing his cottage became the inspiration for her to create a mosaic on the back of the fireplace in her home in Cashiers.“It started with a large flower, but I realized if I was going to cover the whole [thing], I needed to think bigger.” She started creating a vine pattern that looked like a bean stalk.Suddenly, the mosaic began to tell the familiar story ofJack and the Beanstalk.“It starts with flowers at the bottom with Jack and his cow. Then the vine goes up to the top near the ceiling where you find the Giant’s boot. The whole story is there except it is in mosaic,” she says.Becky says she very rarely has the finished product in mind when she starts a project.“In fact, I never do,” she notes, “I know just a general idea.”She also views her work as a spiritual expression of her faith.“I believe that God takes our broken pieces, doesn’t throw them away, then puts them back together in a beautiful way.” She notes when she cuts a piece of china to fit in a design, she thinks about the things in her life that need to be cut away to fit a bigger picture. Next time a dish breaks, pause before you reach for the dustpan.Survey the broken pieces and consider the creative possibility.See what story might emerge. It might just transform the way you see the world.

by Ann Self