The greatest artists of all time built their careers first under the direct tutelage of full and true masters, and their fertile learning ground was making copies of the master work to hone their skills against the best there was.  Tintoretto, for example, lived and worked by the expression, "The colors of Titian, the forms of Michelangelo."  He developed one of the most unique approaches to art in history, starting from this deep and strong foundation.

Bellini took Titan under his wing and even the great Titian spent years learning from making direct copies.  Domenico Ghirlandao led his apprentice, Michelangelo, who spent long years learning directly from the instruction and copying of Maestro Ghirlando.

These are the roots of the world's greatest art.  Throughout time artists learned most fully to express their own voice through first completely absorbing and mastering the skills of their masters... and those masters built upon what they had fully absorbed from their own masters.

The strongest voice comes from complete mastery of what has come before us, right up to the minute prior to finding our own voice and style as a master.  But becoming a master of the work will always miss something if not built upon the explorations of the past before striking out on one's own. 

Maestro Menossi in his apprenticeship with Maestro Domenico Colledani of Milan learned and mastered all the fundamentals before he would break away and develop his outstanding career. Now he invites you to join this ancient tradition, by working with him, through direct study and his guidance, as a way of fully developing your own unique style. Menossi bases his teaching on the oldest traditions of mosaics rooted in time, place, and tradition but also in striking innovation which arises from a true and deep understanding of what mosaics were, are, and will be.
 
Maestro Menossi knows that giving anything less to the students he is teaching would denigrate and diminish the rich and ancient traditions of mosaic art and would be disastrous to the students that come to him to learn.  The fundamental skills that are required to create beautiful mosaics are the same for figural work, portraits, interpretations, abstract works and the unique and original designs that come from the artist's own heart and mind.
 
Following in this tradition, the classes that Maestro Menossi is offering, will all be taught in the Venetian Technique using existing compositions from a variety of contexts.  This is the most fertile ground of learning and will establish within you as a student the deepest roots upon which to build your own unique style.