We recently connected with Ashley Behrens and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

I’ve always been a creative person. I grew up watching my mother craft homemade gifts, needlepoint, sew clothing, etc. You name it, my mother could craft it. She and my father run a small non-profit called Colin’s Angels, an organization dedicated to helping sick and disadvantaged children of the Delaware Valley and beyond. Every winter for the holidays, she handmakes close to 600 dolls and pillow cases to donate to sickly children at area hospitals and other child-based non-profits. All that said, art and creative endeavors have always surrounded me. During the pandemic in late summer of 2020, my mother taught me how to mosaic. She learned years earlier from Isaiah Zagar, award winning mural artist who’s behind Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens. That summer while social distancing down the shore, we beach combed shells and sea glass at Cape May Point. Mom had bought two wooden mermaids for us to mosaic, and I was set on using as many found beach materials as I could when I learned the art form. The moment we began making mosaics together, I fell in love with the craft. I’m a bit of a messy artist, so the freeness I felt with mosaics really fit my personality. I didn’t have to be perfect with the laying of glue or the exact cut of the glass. The imperfections actually made the mermaid that much more beautiful. And that was that: I was going to keep making mosaics to pass the time during lockdown. Not wanting this new hobby to be a money pit as I started, I aimed to source as many free materials as possible to keep this creative endeavor going. I asked family and friends for any extra wood scraps or vinyl tile flooring they had left from home renovation projects. These became the backings for my mosaics. I posted on my neighborhood’s Facebook Buy Nothing page and asked for any “old dishes, cracked plates, broken ceramics” they had to give. Inspired by all things filled with whimsy and magic, most of those early mosaics I crafted had themes of nature, the evil eye, tarot, and the zodiac. After starting an Instagram to share my new hobby, I gained a small amount of followers reaching out to purchase my mosaics. From there, Pisces Moon Mosaics was born. Not wanting to add any waste to the world with my artwork (and to continue being fiscally responsible), I still use mostly repurposed and found materials to make my magical and mythical mixed media mosaics! This is part-time for me as I work full time in talent acquisition for the national educational equity non-profit Teach For America (after teaching Secondary Literature myself for 11 years).

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I like to say that I take people’s trash and turn them into someone else’s treasure. My brain sees the beauty in what discarded items can become. I’ve utilized people’s donated costume jewelry and beach-combed shells to become hair in my mosaics. Broken plates have been cut into flower petals. Chipped tea cups have become the center of some Alice in Wonderland themed pieces. Any unused or discarded items you have that can be utilized for tesserae, which are the objects used in the construction of mosaics, I will gladly take off your hands.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Partnering with other local small businesses has been an incredible source of new and returning clients for me. When I started to post my artwork on social media, I made a point to find, follow, and learn from other small businesses with similar interests and a client base that would likely be drawn to my mosaics. Two small businesses in the Philadelphia area have been a remarkable inspiration and partner to me for a couple years. A Novel Idea, an independent bookstore and event space in South Philly, allows me to adorn their store’s walls with my mosaics. Over anything else, A Novel Idea’s goal is to both cultivate and support their community. They do this in a variety of ways, one of which is offering space to local artists to share their creative endeavors. As a former English teacher, it’s safe to say that I love to read. Book-themed and mythic mosaics sell incredibly well at A Novel Idea. Another small business I’ve partnered with is Thirteen Circles, a holistic gift shop in Conshohocken. Tarot cards had been an early theme in my mosaic making endeavors, and the owners of Thirteen Circles championed my artwork from the beginning. When they opened their storefront on Fayette Street, they offered me space to share my creations. Their support offers me the space and fuels my creativity for all things whimsical and full of magic.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

My favorite part of being an artist is feeling constantly inspired. I see artwork everywhere. If someone gives me broken orange plates, I see a mosaicked sunset. I use a lot of discarded white tiles to create Phillies ornaments for holiday decoration. When the Phillies were on the hunt for the World Series in 2022, I made baseball mosaics with the phrase ‘Dancing on my own’ in Scrabble tiles. Sitting currently in my basement is a chipped rabbit ceramic, donated watches, and a broken tea cup — perfect for another Alice in Wonderland piece!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PiscesMoonMosaics
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piscesmoonmosaics/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashbehrens/