Congratulations to Mara Shiffman, a long-time MSoP member! She has won this year’s Joel Siegel award presented by the Main Line Arts Center. Joel was an original member of MSoP and was very active in helping to form our organization. He was also on the board of Main Line Arts Center. After he passed away, Main Line Arts Center partnered with MSoP to create an annual cash award, ”The Joel Siegel Award for Mosaic Excellence", which is awarded to one mosaic student participating in their annual exhibit. The recipient is selected by Main Line Arts Center and funded by MSoP. Mara should indeed be proud of her accomplishment.
Mara and her prize winning mosaic
The award was given for the portrait of her father titled “Can’t Get You Out of My Mind”. The 9.5’x12.5’ mosaic hangs on a gallery wall in her home, next to “Flo”, a beautiful portrait of her mother that is the same size.
“Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind” by Mara Schiffman
“Flo” by Mara Schiffman
As Mara spoke about her father’s portrait I became very interested in her mother’s portrait as well which was done first and perhaps was the impetus for the second one. It was clear to me how much she loved both her parents and what they meant to each other. She chose the name “Can’t Get You Out of My Mind” because of this adoration the three of them shared.
Mara needed to use photos as a reference for the portraits since her parents had both passed away. Her father died in 1983 and her mother in 2018. These portraits serve as an homage to them.
The title of the woman’s portrait is “Flo”, named for her mother, Florence. The pink glass behind her is Yougigheny glass. The black tiles are black glass that have a little sparkle of silver in them. The majority of the face is composed of pique assiette; her earring is the handle of a cup.
Both similarities and differences can be seen between the two works. Mara’s style is consistent. The background for her father’s is thinset. She used broken china, meaningful objects, and stained glass in both. The pin on her father’s lapel is a medal he received as an army captain. The bird in both mosaic portraits represents her mother’s Hebrew name, Tziporrah, which means bird. The woman in her father’s head represents Mara’s mother and is from a collector’s plate of literary figures.
Mara enjoys using a variety of materials including broken china, beads, smalti, rock, slate, glass tiles, stained glass, and many other symbolic objects. To me her work has both a whimsical flare as well as more serious and realistic techniques which she often combines. The shading in all her pieces is stunning.
It is clear that Mara has both talent and experience. She comes from a family of artists and has been taking classes since 1996, her first being with Carol Stirton-Broad. She continues to learn and explore new ideas. Mara does not like to sell her work as each piece is very time consuming and meaningful to her. She does give them as gifts as well as hanging them in her own home. As a retired pediatrician, she is now able to spend more time creating. We look forward to seeing many more of Mara’s beautiful mosaics.
