Cincinnati Fireplace 1980

Joyce Kozloff made this *Cincinnati Fireplace* with painted ceramic tiles arranged in a tessellated pattern. Imagine her patiently fitting each colourful star into place, building this intricate design from the ground up. I’m thinking about the artist in her studio, carefully painting each tile with its own vibrant colour. What’s it like to have a vision for something and then have to render it in tiny pieces? You'd be making small decisions all the time, about colour, shape, and placement, while trusting that the larger pattern would emerge. It's like the abstract paintings of Agnes Martin, but given a functional dimension. Artists are always looking at each other, finding new ways to use each other’s ideas! This fireplace shows us that art can be part of everyday life. It’s a functional object as well as a decorative one, which offers different ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.