We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elizabeth Raybee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elizabeth below.
Elizabeth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I’ve worked on may projects that include community involvement in the construction, and sometimes in part of the design. I always enjoy including community members, or students at schools, in making murals, because it leaves a great sense of ownership and belonging once it’s finished and I’ve moved on.
After the Redwood Complex Fire in Mendocino County, California in 2017, I organized a three part project – Art from the Ashes – to both help provide both healing and memorialize the horrific event that took lives and homes away from so many people – many of whom were my friends.
Every summer I give mosaic weekend workshops – GroutCamp – for beginners or more advanced, who come work in my studio, Generally I have between 4- 10 students, In 2018, I arranged for enough funding from the California Arts Council, matched by local organizations and businesses, to hire 2 assistants, so I could offer two free weekend workshops, each for up to 17 people who had lost their homes, or been strongly affected in other ways by the fire, Many brought bits of broken or melted things they’d found in the ashes when they were allowed to return to the sites where there homes had been…grandparents’ pottery…parent’s melted wedding rings,,,silverware…tiny surviving game pieces and more. One woman made a 3×5 foot mosaic, half of which was made with parts of her husband’s melted motorcycle. Some brought nothing, but got to make mosaics using a vast array of tile, glass and more in my studio; taking the opportunity to begin to rebuild their homes/lives. Just spending the weekend with many others who’d gone through the disaster and feeling freer to talk about it was healing for many.
The second step of Art from the Ashes was designing and building a 10 x 20 foot mosaic mural to hang on the front of the Redwood Valley Grange, which had been the center where local people and businesses brought food, clothing and other donations during and for a few months after the fire; where they were given free childcare and meals while consulting with each other about insurance, housing plans and many other issues.
Anyone was invited to come to my studio to make a ceramic tile of their house, dog, chickens, fruit trees, or whatever they’d like that related to their fire experience. They were also invited to help make or glaze the tiles of fire, people running and more. I made a large heart tile for each of the people who’d died in the fire, with their names, age and something that portrayed their lives and interests. When all tiles were finished, any interested community members could help set the tiles, The mural was installed and unveiled on the one year anniversary of the fire.
Many local people have expressed how moved they were by either their involvement in the project or from seeing the artwork and are thankful for the permanent memorializing of the experience and those who died in the fires.
Since then I’ve been invited to present the Art form the Ashes images and stories to the Society of American Mosaic Artists, the Community Built Association and the Contemporary Mosaic Art national conferences.
I’ve recently been asked to come to Hawaii next summer and work with people who’ve lost their homes in the recent fires to heal through making mosaics with broken and melted bits….I’m currently working on finding funding for the Art from the Ashes project in Mauii.
Elizabeth, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’ve been an artist all my life, All my pals in 3rd grade wanted me to draw sunsets for them, because I’d discovered how to use the side of a crayon. I painted my first public murals when I was still in high school in the suburbs of Detroit.
I got a degree in Painting and Printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1976, then moved to San Francisco. A few months later, I was helping set up SCRAP – the Scroungers Center for Re-usable Art Parts, where ceramic tiles were among the many materials donated. I brought some tiles home, broke them up and covered three walls of the bathroom in my rental with my first mosaic. Several friends then commissioned me to do mosaics in and on their homes. Shortly thereafter, Edith Heath, who had started Heath Ceramics, hired me to teach mosaic classes at their original factory/shop in Sausalito. That’s when my painting slid to watercolors when I traveled, and mosaics became the center of my artistic world.
I’m still teaching GroutCamps, and annual ArtStays at Emandal, a Farm on a River in Willits, CA. I’ve lead community mosaic projects all over California and contributed to projects around the world. I’ve worked with students of all ages creating mosaic murals for their schools or near-by parks.
I’ve been invited to lead mosaic marathon projects and give presentations about large group projects for SAMA (the Society of American Mosaic Artists), CMA2 (Ceramics and Mosaics) and CBA (Community Built Association).
My work can be seen at www.eRaybeeMosaics.com
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In early 2020 the City of Ukiah commissioned me to make mosaics for five sets of concrete trash and recycling containers for the Alex Thomas Plaza in the center of town. They were going to bring the containers, in batches, to my studio and I was to arrange and publicize a schedule of dates when anyone could stop by for a few minutes or for hours to help with many stages of the project, after I came up with all the basic designs. Then, as with SO much of life, Covid changed everything. Rather than letting the project wait on the back-burner for who knew how long, I went over all the options and proceeded. Fortunately, my studio is a large, 100 year old Lucky Lager shipping warehouse, so it felt safe to seek out a few assistants and shuffle our work schedule so that, with large roll-up doors open on each end, even before there were vaccines, it felt safe to have two or three others working with me, keeping a few yards between us. I was able to find a couple of assistants from former mosaic projects and former students with enough mosaic experience to get the job started.
Then the City decided they wouldn’t be bringing the trash containers to my studio. They said it would be easier to just move them under the small part of the Plaza with a roof to protect us from the winter rains…but not the cold weather! So I had to change my set-up and plans to tile directly onto the cement. Instead, I did all of the drawings on large paper, rather than on the containers, and we did the mosaics on mesh. After that, we attached the mesh with thin-set to the containers and grouted them in the Plaza.
The other unexpected part of this project was being given six specific ideas about “Prepare your to-go bag”, “Get Alerts” and other emergency preparedness images. When I asked what they wanted on the additional twenty-four surfaces, the reply was, “Oh, just make them about Ukiah and the surrounding area.” This was so different from the typical public art norm, where every design has to be approved by a committee, or sometimes by several people and groups. While it was freeing and I felt as though my mosaic work was widely known and trusted, I would get a bit worried about what would happen if an image or two was not liked or offensive to some. I was purposely widely inclusive of our diverse population and wanted to show the mountains, rivers, redwood forests, skateparks, artists, musicians and more.
Since so much of our local news circled around the legalization and licensing of cannabis farms, it seemed like an unavoidable topic…but I did worry about its causing controversy. I chose to make “Mendocino Gothic”, because the American Gothic is so well known and the most parodied painting of all times. The farmer in my mosaic is holding a large pot plant instead of a rake, and both of the worried characters are wearing masks, which refers both to the fact that we were all masked in 2021 and to the fact that so many small farmers who’d been growing marijuana for years still had to do it “underground”, because they can’t afford to go through all the steps and costs of getting permits. Fortunately, all of the feedback I’ve gotten was positive, which I feel has a lot to do with the humorous aspect of the presentation.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Years ago, when I was one of many artists who were living in abandoned warehouses in San Francisco illegally, I was inspired to work with Bay Area Lawyers for the Arts to help push for and develop codes that passed and made it possible for us to live there without the fear of eviction. Just becoming aware of the process of dealing with group financial and creative issues helped me to build the skills it takes to not only make artwork to beautify the world, but also to work with community and not fear delving into the politics it sometimes takes to accomplish larger goals. I never stepped back from joining the board of Arts organizations and learned how to apply for NPO status and for grants to fund community Arts projects. For a couple of decades now I’ve been putting on Draw til You Drop – an annual fundraiser for the Arts. It started off to help fund specific galleries, then for years helped fund the Arts Council of Mendocino County’s GASP – Get Arts in Schools Program. This year the funds will go to Willits Center for the Arts, the Mendocino County Museum and the Art Department at Willits High School.
Draw til You Drop is a marathon FUNdraising event where about twenty artists a year start making art at 10am and must continue until 10pm. They get short breaks for meals, which we provide and are entertained by volunteering musicians and poets who I recruit and schedule. About half the artists generally leave after twelve hours…but there are always a few of us who continue making art for 24 hours or more. My longest ARTing during the event was for 36 hours and our Mendocino County DtYD record is 48 hours!!!
I love pulling this event together because it’s not only lots of fun (and hard work!) but the artists, writers and musicians get to know each other, and the many people who drop in to watch become more aware of the abundance of art in our community and we’ve helped fund many wonderful projects.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eRaybeeMosaics.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.raybee
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjH8Wa_aM2U – Positive Fantastic, 2021 – Mori Natura interview
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wixWXoPK02w – Behind the Scenes, 2022 – Carlos Gonzales interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HaUkPwO9lU – Stay in Harmony, 2013, Mural with teens – Jan Albright video