Kelley Knickerbocker
Kelley came to mosaics in the summer of 2005 after working in many other artistic mediums (leaded glass, canvas floorcloths, calligraphy, quilting). Art had been a lifelong sideline, and she had a serious jones for an artistic expression that could translate into a creative career. A week-long introductory mosaic course at the Institute of Mosaic Art set off a veritable firework display of possibilities in her head: this medium could be horizontal, vertical,
2-D, 3-D, small-scale, mammoth-scale, opaque, translucent, transparent, functional, decorative, and created out of virtually any material! That mind-boggling versatility convinced her that there had to be a career in there somewhere.

After a year of mosaic technique and installation studies with professionals across the U.S., in 2006 she founded her Seattle studio, Rivenworks Mosaics, from which she designs, fabricates and installs custom architectural mosaics for residential, commercial, and public art clients.

Kelley now works in all sorts of mediums for architectural clients, but in her personal work she returns again and again to glass for exploration and play. The visual (and literal) depth and light-handling properties of glass, as well as its seemingly limitless palette of colors, offer up endless possibilities for dimensional shenanigans. From those explorations Kelley has developed three signature glass mosaic techniques: Texture Field, which utilizes multiple textures of clear architectural glass to create a field of texture; Flat Stacking, in which multiple layers of translucent glass are stacked over itself on a mirrored or clear glass substrate, and Edge Stacking, in which glass strips of varying heights are set on edge.

Kelley’s fine art panels in stacked and textured glass have been accepted to national and international juried exhibitions, and many reside in private collections. She is an active member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists, and teaches mosaic workshops around the country, at her Seattle studio, and through Seattle Stained Glass.