Claire Milner

A member of BAMM, The British Association for Modern Mosaics, and AOI, the Association of Illustrators, Claire Milner is one of Londonart.co.uk’s leading mosaic artists.

Originally trained as a Graphic Designer, Milner spent a number of years working in the Design and Illustration industry. After visiting Ravenna, Italy, a city famous for its early Byzantine and Christian monuments decorated with stunning mosaics, including the splendid Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, Milner enrolled in a mosaic workshop which was to welcome a new departure for her work.

Mosaic is an ancient art which has a rich history dating back to the third century BC. From the Greeks, Romans and Byzantine mosaics, to the Art Nouveau movement, it is now enjoying a huge renaissance in the 21st Century. Mosaic artists use small pieces of stone or fragments of pottery, colored or clear glass backed with metal foils to create a pattern or picture.
In the early nineties Milner studied under the eminent international mosaic artist Elaine M Goodwin. It was soon after completing her training that Milner began incorporating the ancient art of mosaic into her work. Now a professional mosaic artist with over 12 years experience, she combines her design and Illustration skills to create her beautiful mosaics.

Primarily influenced by her travels across Europe, South America, Africa and the Far East, each region encourages a new style of working and a variation on colour. “The many different countries and cultures I have experienced have heavily influenced me.” says Milner. “My travels in South America, Africa and the Far East led to experimentation with primary colour schemes and humanistic subject matter, integrated with simplistic yet bold imagery. Travels in Europe inspired more subtle atmospheres in renditions of European architecture and landscapes.” she adds.

At the initial stage of conception, Milner creates a layout for the final design or image. Importing most of her tiles from Italy, and predominantly using a combination of vitreous glass mosaic tiles - some of which are shot with gold veins, she must predetermine her tiles, technique, and principal colours at this initial design stage. “The illustration must be composed and transferred onto the backing. Once this is done care must be taken to ensure that the correct adhesives are used for the chosen surface that must firstly be primed.” She says.

Measuring approximately 2cm square, each tile has to be shaped and laid according to the design. “I cut all of the tiles individually with tile nippers before beginning a mosaic, and I continue to cut and shape tiles throughout the mosaic process.” she says, adding, “I like to incorporate gold and silver into much of my work wherever possible and appropriate.” After completing the tiling stage, the grout has then to be added. “This is also a very important stage, because beautiful mosaics have been known to flounder if the wrong colour grout is chosen. I often use different coloured grouts in different parts of a mosaic if necessary.”

This year is set to be a great year for Milner. 2007 will see the publication of, “Diana In Art”, a book by Mem Mehmet, the author of the best seller, Madonna in Art. It will feature 300 beautiful and varied paintings that celebrate the life of Diana, the People's Princess, and will include one of Milner’s original and unique mosaics and two of her hanmade paper portraits. Milner’s mosaic entitled ‘Diana’, uses Gold leaf, mirror, vitreous glass and ceramic tile with nuggets of fool's gold to portray the late Diana, Princess of Wales (1961 – 1997). This original artwork is currently still available to buy on Londonart.co.uk.

Milner has undertaken many commissions for publishing companies, businesses and individuals on many subjects. Her most recent works have been a series of portraits for publication and private commissions. From life size mosaic portraits to handmade paper illustrations her subjects include; Michael Faraday, Sir Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth I & II, Queen Victoria, Henry VIII, Gordon Brown, Sir Nigel Lawson, Sir Terry Leahy, Sir Martin Sorrell, Lord Browne. Her work has been published in The Complete Mosaic Handbook, as well as many magazines, journals and brochures.

To view Claire Milner’s work, general exhibition pages and to look at her biography please click here