Level: for complete beginners as well as participants with previous mosaic experience.
Tutor: Giulia Vogrig
Dates: 13 – 17 July 2026
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: £656
- Earlybird: 10% discount if booked by 31 March
- 10% discount available for City & Guilds of London Art School undergraduate, postgraduate, and foundation students, alumni, and staff. Contact summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk to receive the discount code.
COURSE OVERVIEW
This distinctive course offers a rare opportunity to create an A4-size mosaic portrait using smalti tesserae. Working from your own design or photograph, you will use traditional tools to produce an accurate mosaic and learn techniques to convey expression and character through mosaic. Your subject can be a person, a pet, or any animal you wish to portray.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This five-day course is designed for complete beginners and participants with prior mosaic experience. You will learn how to plan your piece, translate an image into a mosaic design, and understand which elements need to be simplified given the medium’s nature—while still achieving a compelling, expressive result.
You will work with smalti—an opaque glass material still predominantly produced in Venice and used abundantly during the Byzantine era—and traditional tools such as the hammer and hardie to cut the tesserae. To do so, we will follow the Venetian method, which effectively pairs with smalti to create richly decorated architectural surfaces.
Using the direct method, you will set tesserae into a cement-based mortar, choosing between the more traditional Byzantine uniform size of tesserae and a contemporary style with varying sizes. Throughout the course, you will receive personalised one-to-one guidance from the tutor.
You will leave the course with a photographic diary documenting your progress, and of course, you may take your finished mosaic home with you.
What’s included: All teaching, Substrate (marine plywood) with temporary frame, Adhesive (tile adhesive), Smalti, Tools, Safety glasses
What’s not included: Gold or silver tesserae, Meals, Camera or phone for reference and photography, Dust face mask, Protective apron or overalls, and Drawing materials (tracing paper, HB pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, black marker). Participants are welcome to contact us in advance if they need advice about materials or equipment.
COURSE THE TUTOR:
Giulia Vogrig is a professionally trained mosaic artist with nearly 20 years of experience delivering mosaic projects and accredited teaching. She brings deep technical expertise alongside a strong commitment to inclusive, hands-on adult learning.
After graduating from the renowned Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli in Italy, she moved to the UK, where she expanded her practice through large-scale public commissions, community co-creation projects, and arts education. She has taught on the Diploma programme at the London School of Mosaic, delivering modules in both Design and Fabrication and guiding students from initial concept to completed individual works.
Her teaching approach balances respect for traditional craftsmanship with an open, encouraging environment that supports experimentation and personal expression. She has worked with adult learners of all ages, from complete beginners to aspiring professionals, and is dedicated to helping students build confidence, technical skill, and a strong sense of creative ownership.
If you’d like to keep up to date with news about our Summer School courses, please add your details to our Summer School mailing list. If you have any queries, please email us at summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk
Any queries? Take a look at our FAQs page and for further help, please contact us at summerschool@cityandguildsartschool.ac.uk