Cristina De Leoni
Cristina De Leoni was born in Udine on 8 January 1977.
She obtained her art school diploma from the G. Sello State Art Institute in Udine, specialising in advertising graphics and photography.
After a brief period devoted to restoration, which took her to Cagliari to work with Bruno Molinaro, a restorer from Friuli, she discovered the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli.
After visiting the school, she was fascinated by this art form, which she had previously only encountered in ancient mosaics. She discovered that it was resistant to time and growing in popularity, and decided to embark on the path to becoming a master mosaicist.
She graduated from the school in 2001, and the following year she attended the fourth year of specialisation.
She continued her connection with the school when she became a master mosaicist, teaching mosaic in the advanced course as well as the first, second and third courses and mosaic design.
Working at the school and interacting with students enabled her to develop her technical, professional and interpersonal skills.
With a sensitivity and interest in creative and artistic matters, she has collaborated with various authors on mosaic-related projects.
She also teaches and practises leaded stained glass and Tiffany glass techniques. Notably, she created a stained glass window for the tomb of Giandomenico Facchina in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Key milestones in her professional career include participating in the restoration of the mosaics at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Lourdes, and restoring the large wall panel at S. Lucia railway station in Venice, which was designed by the artist Mario Deluigi in 1954.
Other notable projects include the war memorials in Sequals, Solimbergo and Pozzo, the latter of which was created using mosaics by Nane Zavagno in the 1960s.
Her creativity and personal artistic research manifest themselves in the creation of her own mosaic designs, such as the Sara Simeoni Trophy, the City of Trieste Young Writers' Award, the Gran Noè Award and the Friulano & Friends Award.
He plays an active role in designing and creating mosaic works at the School, ranging from interior architecture to design, including Jesus Healing the Blind Man in Paludea (PN), San Lorenzo in Fossa (AQ) and the Holy Family in Pordenone. He has also collaborated with Valcucine and Sintesi.
In 2011, he took part in the International Mosaic and Architecture Competition organised by Pordenone Fairs, winning first prize in the private mosaic category with Laguna e Cielo (Lagoon and Sky), a project created by SMF for Volksbank in Graz, Austria.
Thanks to the school, he has had the opportunity to collaborate with internationally recognised artists from a variety of sectors. In the early 2000s, he studied under a teacher from St Petersburg who came to Spilimbergo to share his expertise in mosaic techniques. In 2010, he taught a mosaic course in Gwangju, South Korea.
In 2011, he took a course on stoneware production, which is used in the teaching of artistic mosaic creation.
He is always looking for new inspiration and strives to be a proactive teacher who leaves room for each individual to express themselves. He is aware that he has much to give, but even more to receive from continuous exchange with his students.
“Mosaics? They are orderly disorder, where each tile has a precise position and cannot be anything other than that.'