Lynne Chinn Works

Biography

Lynne Chinn, Mosaicist, is a Graphic Design/Fashion Illustration graduate of Colorado Institute of Art.

After many years as an award-winning Art Director in magazine publishing, she redefined her life by becoming an oil painter, exhibiting and selling her works in Dallas, TX.  She was named New Texas Talent, Craighead-Green Gallery in 1999.

Since 2001 Lynne has been designing, creating and installing large scale, one-of-a-kind mosaic art pieces for designers, architects, public art committees, liturgical clients, art consultants and homeowners. She has completed countless commissions for commercial and private clients, including a 72'w x 6'h public art commission as well as a 6'w x 9'h Italian smalti mosaic Icon for Mt. Angel Abbey in Oregon.

Lynne received a cherished 3eme Prix Professionnels for her work Valentino at the Rencontres Internationales de Mosaique, Prix Picasiette 2010. She was recognized as “Juror’s Choice”; Mosaic Arts International 2013, “Best in Show”; Mosaic Arts International 2009, an international juried exhibition of contemporary mosaic art, was invited by Mosaicist Honoree Toyoharu Kii at the Mosaique Contemporaine; Blanc et Noir, in 2014, and was honored with ‘Finalist: for Fine Mosaic Technique and Originality of Expression’ in the coveted Orsoni Prize 2007. In 2019, she was invited to exhibit at the L’Association M Comme Mosaique in “Exuberances Mosaique Contemporaine: Gerard Brand, Lynne Chinn & Guilio Menossi,” in France.

Her inspired fine art mosaics are represented in private homes and in public places all over the United States, Japan, Australia, France, and Canada.

Artist’s Statement

For me, being an artist is not something I chose - it is who and what I am and always was. My ideas are constant and internally driven and they come from my everyday life experiences. The things I see or do, the people I know, and the places I travel to.

Lately, I have been fascinated with the idea of making glass and stone mosaics that appear light and airy as though they are lightly draped fabric softy billowing in the wind. It is my intent to make them appear to be minimal and subtle, to impart for the viewer a seeming effortlessness in their creation, which in turn creates a feeling of calmness and serenity.

To this end I work within a mostly monochromatic color scheme and am very deliberate about the harmonization of the hues, shades and tints. In shaping the tesserae I can manipulate their texture and appearance, and then I work diligently with the fit and ease of the pieces as they touch and transition from one to the other to create movement and flow.

In my three-dimensional glass mosaic work, I keep motion and texture in mind. I find enjoyment in the juxtaposition between my natural, soft-edged sculptural forms and the straight and hard reflective glass.

Within this ancient art form, I believe in using the finest materials I can find including 24k gold smalti, colored smalti, marble, natural stone, crystals and minerals, vitreous and stained glass, Millefiori, and shell, in conjunction with the most up-to-date installation tools, products and techniques to create my modern yet enduring works of art.

Looking at my artwork I think anyone can see that I am a controlled person. Perhaps a more succinct way to look at it would be that I come from an overly controlled environment—or from an excessively rigid upbringing. Being an imaginative person growing up with strict regulation, fueled my imagination for a lifetime.

So, in my artworks I work for a balance of control -vs- freedom. Control; regulated, structured, and restrained- because it feels ingrained in me, and freedom; autonomy, total immersion, fantasy and unconventionality-- because I crave it and need it to balance these two oddly complimentary personalities in my soul.

The sculptural shapes I create are open, light, free flowing, exuberant, and unfurling—while the mosaic I attach to them is precise, detailed, meticulous, and exact—a unique and beautiful balance.

A large part of what I do is for others…I love it when my work connects with people. That ability that art has to touch another person’s soul. The religious work I create for a monastery or congregation, the secular work I create for a home or business owner, the public work I create for countless people to see -- it all connects in its own way and gives me a chance to connect with so many people of all ages, beliefs, and backgrounds.

If ‘order out of chaos’ is a metaphor for mosaics, then, from the chaos of my past…creating my mosaic artwork has put my pieces back together to produce the beautiful piece of art that I am. Mosaic is mesmerizing and it is like life; choice, judgment, magic, frustration, coordination, shaping, fitting, adhering, beauty, joy, quality, and effort.