Woodinville Artist Adds Color to the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra

One Woodinville artist gained some unexpected recognition recently, when the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra asked to put her mosaic mandolin on the jacket of their first CD released in April.  Patty Franklin’s sculpture, “Estonia,” was a perfect fit for the band’s CD titled Coloratura.

“Estonia” is Patty’s first musical instrument, completed in 2007 after a trip to Eastern Europe.  She describes how she discovered her treasured mandolin in Tallinn, Estonia.  “I like to wander off the tourist path when I travel and I ventured down a side street into what looked like a second hand store,” she wrote Woodinville Patch. “There was an old man sitting behind a dusty jewelry case filled with paraphernalia from WWII. Using hand signals, I asked if I could look around. He nodded and I headed to the back of the store. I immediately saw the mandolin in the farthest corner with no strings and a crack up the middle. I asked him how much and he sold it to me for $1.”

Franklin set to work when she got back home adding her mosaics to the mandolin. Since then she has mosaiced a balalaika, multiple guitars and a violin. Currently, Franklin is creating an abstract version of the local forests and trails, in glass.  Each piece will have its own tale to tell and a guidebook that will take you into her magical mosaic woods.  

For more information on either the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra CD, or Franklin’s mosaic sculptures, you can go to www.pattyfranklinmosaics.com. You can also on Woodinville Patch.