The art of making mosaics goes far back in history, at least to that of ancient Mesopotamia, but it was the Romans who first perfected the technique and brought it to prominence. For them, however, it was used primarily in making elegant floors.

It was the Byzantine artists who raised this technique to a high art, especially in the creation of great religious art in such churches as that of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy or the Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul.

The art itself is made up of thousands of little pieces of coloured glass, ceramics or natural stone. Each little piece is called a tesserae and is carefully placed in the composition according to a plan. It is a labour-intensive, time-consuming art and consequentially, only a small percentage of today's artists take it up.

As can be imagined, it is a rare technique in the Bermuda art community, although, in its favour is its great durability. Given the corrosive nature of Bermuda's climate, that is a very attractive consideration.

The Byzantine artists, who applied this technique to wall compositions, did not have to apply each tesserae so that it was always level, as would have been necessary when constructing a floor.

Often, the units were of gold and because they were placed unevenly, this created a sense that the wall was faceted. This method of application produced a perception of glowing, other-worldly light.

Of all the artists that I know of here in Bermuda, I can name only one other, before Shelly Hamill who occasionally made mosaics and that was Kendra Ezekiel, who used sea glass in making her compositions.

I also seem to recall one other recent artist who is experimenting with the technique, but Shelly Hamill, unlike any other Bermuda artist, has made the mosaic technique the centrally most prominent aspect of her artistic output.

I first recollect seeing her art more than a few years ago but as I remember, at first, her art was based upon Sudoku puzzles and at first, was constructed of different woods. Out of that, an interest in an art made of smaller units must have developed. At least, I think I can see a relationship between her earlier art and that of her present mosaics.

In an earlier life, I understand that Ms Hamill was a wedding consultant and even that has become an aspect of her art. Her mosaics, unlike most by other artists which are on flat surfaces, are applied to three dimensional constructions, mostly dress forms and often wedding dresses.

Examples of Ms Hamill's current use of mosaic can be seen in the Rick Faries Gallery at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.

The show is being held in conjunction with recent workshops in mosaic that have been conducted by Ms Hamill at the Masterworks Foundation and so along with Shelly Hamill's work, examples of the workshop participants are also on show.

Interestingly almost half of those of the 25 participants are children, with ages ranging from as young as two and a half or three to 12.

The show continues through tomorrow.