Bob Roher, Glass Mosaic Artist:

Before I found mosaics, I had made art with ceramics and photography. It was a time when other artists were plunging into Photoshop and, while I explored those possibilities, I didn't want to sit at a computer. I wanted something more tactile. Returning to New York from a photography workshop in Provence in 2002, I noticed a mosaic in a store window, a classical image done in gray and black pieces of stone. I was intrigued, but rather than working with stone, I wanted to use the strong colors that I favored in photography. That led me to stained glass. Now I capture images with my camera that I interpret in mosaics. In every panel, I face a creative challenge in using the pieces of glass before me, without the ability of a darkroom to burn and dodge, or of Photoshop to tweak color, or of paint to mix and blend pigment. But the goal is the same: to create an image that evokes reality, where the colors are harmonious and objects can take shape using a medium that resists shaping.

With the help of my Artist Collaborative, IRVA, (Inspired Retired Visual Artists), I have been able to broaden my creative vision which has inspired me to create mosaics of bridges, barns, landscapes, abstracts, portraits, dogs, skylines and sunsets.

My work has been displayed in galleries in NYC, Hudson Valley and New Hope, PA. My mosaics will be shown at the Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, NY from June 11 - July 19, 2026.