as if rebuilding life from fragments
Now Kristina has two children, 12 years old. Linu and 9 y.o. Marija lives in the village of Avilais II, Zarasai district, and owns a small farm. She moved here from a single-family home in the same district after losing her husband Jean Noel two years ago – it was uncomfortable to stay alone with her children in the woods.
In her youth, Kristina traveled around Lithuania and the world alone, and then with her husband, but only now, even after a tragic event, she feels she has found a kind of peace.
Kristina, who comes from the Kretinga district, was very sensitive and withdrawn as a child, she felt lost in life and was very much, not living, existing.
After school, she studied for a while at St. At the Antanas Institute of Religious Studies, in those times when she felt very vulnerable, it was God who helped her not to give up.
on her way, she lived for a while with the Missionaries of God’s Love nuns. There she learned more about the “Arkas” community and thought that she would feel good in it and realize herself by helping others. In community homes, healthy volunteers live together with mentally or intellectually disabled people and help them. Such communities also operate in Vilnius, Kaunas, and their origins are in France.
Kristina found that she could go to the “Arkas” community in France (especially since she studied French at school and was very attracted to this country). However, he did not stay long in the place he went to. “I felt that in order to be able to be responsible for people with mental disabilities and take care of them, you have to be very strong, strong inside, and I have to be very strong, I lacked self-confidence,” he admitted.
Then she found out about one community active in the Brittany region – St. Joseph’s village. There lived a family of believers who farmed and accepted people to live and work at their place – both those who influenced their use and those who simply thought about life in a quiet environment.
In that community, among other things, there was also a ceramic mosaic workshop, where a Lithuanian woman learned this craft (she was creative from an early age and was very attracted to using handicrafts).
The man dreamed of a farm
While living in a remote area of France, Kristina 12 years ago. met her future husband, Jean Noel, who was a few years older – he was a small farmer who brought various seedlings to their village and helped with various works.
The engagement of the couple soon followed, and then the wedding. Since Jean Noel had long dreamed of a bigger farm, the two agreed to move to Lithuania together and start farming here. It shows a man that in our country, relations between people are simpler, so it will be easier to settle down.
It wasn’t as easy as it really was at the beginning – they settled in their place, but they didn’t sow in their place, the fact that the neighbors sprayed their crops abundantly, and they wanted to farm naturally, also got in the way.
Seven years ago, the two of them moved to the Zarasai district with two cool children. The fact that the Tiberias community from Belgium (a monastery of women and men) decided here in the village of Baltriškii contributed to the pretence. A man really wants to have someone to talk to in his native language.
True, they did not have time to fully establish themselves here.
“We weren’t even settled until the end, and then, two years ago, Jean Noel left us – he left suddenly, he became very weak and within a few weeks he was gone,” said the woman.
The cause of death remained completely unclear – the depressed woman did not try to explain it, because she understood that it would not change anything.
“Of course, it was a huge shock for me and my children and my husband’s relatives, because of the pandemic, no one from France came to the door… We buried him in the Baltriškii cemetery, the neighbors helped a lot, as well as the monk brothers – how could I have coped with everything alone during”, he said.
A man cares from heaven
Now, two years after her husband’s death, Kristina feels a little better, and the children feel good too, they really like the school they attend.
“It helps me a lot that during the funeral I realized that Jean Noel wanted me to continue living as fully as possible, to breathe and not to wallow in self-pity. So I don’t give up and go further, even if it’s a small step. And the children believe that dad, being in heaven, takes care of them – it seems that we all feel his care, we feel that he does not leave us”, Kristina shared her experiences.
Shortly after her husband’s death, she rediscovered ceramics, which she had forgotten about for several years. Her friend Dovilė helped her a lot when she was alone. She has a familiar potter and his work at home. One day, a friend of mine told Kristina that she had several pieces of broken ceramics that she was sorry to throw away, but she couldn’t figure out how to use them.
“I told her that it goes without saying that you can make beautiful mosaics out of them. My friend encouraged me, pushed me to do it – that’s how it started”, said Kristina.
Now she decorates surfaces with fragments of ceramics or simple dishes, remnants of ceramic tiles or even broken car windows. Old tables or chairs, flower stands and pots, mirror edges, photo frames, etc. have been renovated with mosaics.
By gluing the mosaic on a solid base (metal, wood panel, etc.), you can create impressive thank-yous and pictures. A simple jar can turn into a spectacular lantern, and a glass juice bottle into a vase. Kristina even had to decorate the shower cabin with scraps – it was really a lot of work at that time.
The artist chops the combs with special scissors for cutting tiles or breaks them with a hammer, then glues them with glue for glass or a simple glue, after finishing the work, she also uses putty for tiles. To combine colors with the colors of the room, sometimes a person simply chooses his beautiful pleasure.
Our scars can glow
Creating mosaics from scraps brings joy and comfort to Kristina. “This activity seems to me to be a therapy as well. I have noticed that when something is broken inside us, by gluing the pieces together, we sort of rebuild ourselves. I heard that in Japan, broken dishes are glued and decorated with gold dust – we can leave them like this with scars, but they will glow,” observed Kino.
He added that in order for the mosaic to be completed, patience and persistence are needed – well, but this also helps not to get tired, to stand more firmly on one’s feet.
Now it seems to a woman that this activity is exactly what she has been missing since childhood, and it is through it that she can realize herself.
Kristina enjoys mosaics not only in her free time – she has already managed to sell one work, organize several educations where she taught people how to stick mosaics (she goes wherever she is invited, if a group gathers). “Some participants said it was a therapeutic activity that had a calming effect. Some are in the mood to continue experimenting at home,” said the artist.
And Kristina dreams of starting to organize mini-camps, retreats for people who are experiencing difficulties in life. They would be taught that no matter how difficult it is, the most important thing is not to lose hope and faith that everything is possible. After all, even she, for a while, will feel that her whole life is broken, but she will gradually rise to a new life, just like her works from broken pieces.
Now the woman is looking everywhere for pieces of pottery and crockery and things that she could decorate with them. And they have asked people to surprise them more than once – they found a box with broken dishes at the door of their house, although no one knows who left it among those who know their hobby.
You can contact Kristina through her “Mosaic of Life” facebook team.