AN Altona-based mosaic artist has cracked the international market.
Julee Latimer has been offered a year’s representation by New York’s Amsterdam Whitney Gallery.
Her son Jake, in year 12 at Bayside College in Newport, has also broken into the art world, carving his own path as a graffiti artist.
He was among 50 artists commissioned by Zoos Victoria to paint a life-size sculpture of Mali the elephant. It will be exhibited on the streets of Melbourne before being auctioned in October.
Ms Latimer says it’s great to see graffiti being recognised in galleries. “Graffiti is always thought of as vandalism and it’s frustrating because there’s such a difference.”
Her own art form also lacks recognition here at home. “Mosaic is seen as a fine art overseas and in Australia it’s still seen as a decorative craft – it’s so hard to change that,” she says.
It is a love of glass that drives her. “The light, the texture, the colour and the desire to create something exquisite from it. Also, to give voice to my feelings, dreams and interests in a way that gives others joy.”
Last year, Melton Council commissioned Latimer’s mosaic armchair titled Sit your art down for permanent display at Morton Homestead in Taylors Hill.
She is one of 20 international artists featured in WIP Yourself Into a Mosaic Artist, by Rayna Clark, to be published in October by Schiffer Books in New York.
Latimer’s chapter is about the making of Celeste, a piece made for this year’s Melbourne Flower and Garden Show.
She will be the only Australian represented at an international exhibition in Italy in September after receiving a personal invitation from maestro Giulio Menossi.
Jake, 17, says he’s inspired by the artwork he sees in the city and while travelling on trains.
“Some people consider it vandalism, but I love looking at the pieces that I see.”
He is a member of Street SmART, a program that started at Laverton and helps street artists find legal places to practice their art.
