Cascading Wood Designs- Art by Jane Litwin Taylor

I am a disabled mosaic and bead artist and strive daily to carve out the best life I can while living with multiple debilitating and isolating illnesses- Chronic Daily Migraine, Fibromyalgia , Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). 

Here is where my art takes on such an important part of my life, the thread that keeps me connected to joy, a practice in meditation and losing “myself”, distracting from pain and fatigue. 

The concept of piecing together broken bits of glass and ceramics has come to be the perfect metaphor for my life. I bring a deep passion to my process of taking small fragments and beads and transforming them into works of richness, beauty and luminescence. 

 Each piece I create evolves from a meditative and introspective process, wherein I become one with my art: it is being aware in that moment, being mindful,  and losing myself completely in my process. Because I live with unending migraine symptoms, head and body pain and fatigue, when I am “able enough” I work  through the pain and discomfort and can often transcend it while I create. Art allows me to step into another world for a while and what a gift that is. Often, completing a piece of mosaic art or a SunChime or a piece of beadwork is a powerful reminder that I can transform intense pain and suffering into beauty to share with the world.