R E V I E W S Country Home Magazine 2006 | Daily PDX 2003 | Oregonian 2001 | Oregonian 2000 | Oregonian 1999 | Artweek 2001 | You Don't Know... | Catholic Sentinel 2004 | Oregonian 2005 Daily PDX June 2003 Mama Mosaic You have to step up to get inside, past docile panting dogs and, on a recent Last Thursday, a throng of people clogged about the narrow doorway. They're in no hurry. Rather standing around, poking each other and saying, "Did you see that? Can you believe that?" Hail Mary, the studio of artist Mary Tapogna, has a visually tactile sense about it. Meaning you have to try very, very hard not to reach out and touch the art. They're just so damn...touchable...despite, ironically, being made of broken glass, shards of pottery, tile and pretty much anything else that seems to fit into the mosaic portraits. Everyday people, everyday portraits, but with the eye of a photographer -- which is Mary's other profession. A former photojournalist, the images have startling shadows, light and form, humanity and emotion. You find yourself seeing the image, then visually breaking it down into its smaller parts -- a bead, a button, a clever piece of broken pottery for a nose. Tiny individual pieces that come together to make something spectacular. Breathtaking, even. Hail, Mary.