Lisa Houck, Tulips Pop Up in the Forest, mosaic, 30 x 12; Ross Ozer, Solar Spin, encaustic, 36 x 36

Lisa Houck – Artist Statement
When I was asked to create a mosaic for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston in 2003 it was the beginning of my involvement with this wonderful, colorful, shimmering medium of mosaic. I have been working with it ever since. My heavily patterned paintings in watercolor and oil led very naturally into this new way of working with small reflective tesserae. With these irregularly shaped pieces, I create vibrant, imaginative images filled with color and pattern. I make some of the ceramic pieces that are in these mosaics.

Living close to nature in Maine has inspired my imagery as I watch the seasons go by. Cutting and carefully placing mosaic tiles to create ornate, colorful plant forms that emulate and celebrate my natural surroundings has been a meaningful practice.

These mosaic trees embody personalities: some are quiet and shy, some are wiry and easily swayed, some are larger than life. I often use circular imagery that can evoke cells, flowers, droplets, planets, spirals and seasonal cycles in the natural world.

Ross Ozer – Artist Statement
I’m Ross Ozer, the artist behind rjostudio, where I bring my lifelong passion for mixed media into focus through vibrant, tactile encaustic art.

My work centers on encaustic painting, where I use a heated stylus to apply dots of pigmented wax in a process rooted in stippling and pointillism. The result is richly textured, layered pieces that invite both visual and tactile engagement.

Influenced by quilting traditions, ethnographic forms, and the natural world, my paintings explore the harmony of color, pattern, and movement. I’m especially inspired by the geometry of ancient tiles, woven textiles, ceramics, and florals—visual stories collected from travel, museums, and markets around the world.

A mixed media artist at heart, I began quilting in college and continued creating alongside a long career in marketing. Today, I split my time between Artisans Asylum in Boston and my studio in Provincetown, finding inspiration in both communities as I keep evolving, experimenting, and building new layers—one dot of wax at a time.

Patterned Worlds: Lisa Houck + Ross Ozer

Exhibition Reception Date:

Thursday April 2, 5:30pm

Exhibition Opening:

April 2

Exhibition End Date:

May 3

Exhibition Year:

2026

Patterned Worlds

Two artists, Lisa Houck + Ross Ozer, building color-rich worlds through organic and geometric pattern.

Curatorial Statement

In this two-artist exhibition, the works of Lisa Houck and Ross Ozer meet through a shared commitment to color, pattern, and the handmade. Houck’s mosaics evoke living landscapes—birds, leaves, pods, and currents built from thousands of tesserae that shift subtly in hue and rhythm. Her compositions reflect the organic logic of nature: flowing, intertwining, and filled with movement.

Ozer’s geometric encaustic paintings offer a structured counterpoint. Created dot-by-dot in wax, his works explore circles, arcs, grids, and nested forms inspired by quilting traditions and Bauhaus design. Each composition uses repetition and precise color harmonies to create a sense of balance and architectural clarity.

Presented together, these two bodies of work reveal parallel ways of constructing visual coherence from tiny incremental units. One is organic, one geometric; one narrative, one abstract. Their dialogue celebrates the beauty of craft, the power of pattern, and the expressive possibilities of color.