Meet Hannah Maximova | Mosaic Muralist

Meditative stillness. For me creativity is going into the cave of the unknown and engaging with a series of questions to resolve from the vast silent world of possibilities. Finding peace in feeling for a sense of resonance is the core of my practice.

As a mosaicist I work in pieces. In Latin they’re called tesserae and each single tessera is a considered choice. Every small segment of glass or rock was procured, cut, placed, mortared down, grouted and installed so that finally all of those small answers merge into the tidal wave of material that becomes a compound story. The quest of starting from perhaps and ending in yes is always a rush.

I named my business Zoe Mosaics because zoe means life and that’s the primary focus in my work. The life, the vitality of energized form and color, what makes your spirit light up is what I’m after. How about let’s wake on up and give our attention to the sparky miracle of existence and consciousness.

Depicting life forms in their individualized majesty is a big part of my jam but abstracted imagery can also produce these feelings. There often comes a point in the creation process when the artwork seems to wake up, on my community projects many volunteers have said they can feel it, it’s like the bits of glass evolve into a breathing animal that could move and exist on its own. That glass and cement can bring about this sensation again and again is a real kick in the pants. And sharing that feeling with the community is like the kind of group hug that makes you tear up with overwhelming gratitude, your arms filled with love.

I’d say it’s been a winding road to get to where I am professionally. My twin areas of focus, a commitment to community service and my first career in graphic design and art direction came together in my late 30’s to drive me into the public art arena. Community building was always a part of my groove and that eventually led to being honored with contributing leadership support to local community gardens, a public school foundation, an alternative birth organization and meditation groups. Laboring with others to help, heal and uplift has been a profound experience. It’s magic to watch fellow team members grow as our separate and shared capabilities bloom into powerful magnificence. Combining that passion with the creativity that has long been my day job was a natural progression that has demanded commitment, faith and determination.

My creative background includes many kinds of generative work, notably my years naming medicines with made up words and creating paper fold out toys included with some video games. I also reformatted each page of many volumes of a major encyclopedia brand, becoming temporarily expert in items within the few letters I reformatted and read. Thankfully most of those info bits eventually faded making me a less challenging to live with than when I’d been in the thick of it.

Once I worked in a place where the dude in charge was so mean, he yelled horribly at his staff all the time. As a freelancer I felt it was my duty to tell the staff members one at a time that of the many, many businesses I’d worked for their work place was the bottom of the barrel, nobody should be crying at work from mistreatment. After being appalled by the toxicity on my last day there I printed a few sentences I’d found in a book that said that in the Solomon Islands there’s a tribe that can fell trees by yelling at them. The tribe members believe that they can kill a tree’s spirit and researchers were amazed to see that the yelled at trees actually fell. I formatted the book’s words into a small square and printed it maybe a hundred times on several sheets of paper. I cut the squares of text apart and when the boss was out to lunch I hid those papers all over his office. I’d shown them to his staff in advance, told them about my plan and they all tittered and giggled at the idea. When the boss returned from lunch I heard him gleefully find the first little paper and say they should try it, like by yelling at their business opponents. I was gone before he’d have found the other copies under each item on his desk, under his mouse, mug, briefcase, and tucked into books and nooks. That happened nearly thirty years ago, I wonder if he got the message.

Somewhere I came upon the term “amabat peregrinos” which was translated as “loved the wandering monks” and that made me smile. I felt like as freelancers we floated through and between offices and we could share news, advice, ideas and information about the wider work world that long timers often lacked.

Keeping the spark of what’s fun, what’s cool and keeps you awake and engaged was the ark that kept my spirit alive through what were sometimes slow periods. I’ve also been lucky in my family, I’m married to a genius of fun, creativity and heartfelt engagement and we’ve been together for thirty one years. We’re also lucky to have a vibrant son who’s a bright light.

I’ve learned that paying attention to what makes me feel alive isn’t optional, it’s crucial, even if I have to make room for it outside of my money work. Being in natural areas and paying attention to the planted and mobile beings that live there is one of my biggest touch points, and living in the LA area makes that delightfully easy.

Downtown the Last Bookstore, Clifton’s Cafeteria (but it doesn’t have a cafeteria anymore), my mosaic mural of Father Greg Boyle’s quotes at Learning Works @ Homeboy Industries at 1916 1st Street, the LA Central Library on 5th street, City Hall, Grand Central Market.

In Glendale Deukmejian Wilderness Park (another site of one of my murals, and with a nature center and over 700 acres of beautiful wilderness there are many reasons to go there), in South Pasadena Fiore Market Cafe, in Larchmont Cafe Gratitude, kayaking the LA River with LA River Expeditions, in Frogtown Suay Sew Shop is the bomb, in Venice the Museum of Jurassic Technology.