Gene Dillard, Mosaicist

This is the front of Gene's house in Durham on a recent winter night.

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I’ve known Gene Dillard since 1991, when he joined a class I was teaching at the Durham County Library.  He was writing poetry then, took several more classes with me and became quite a good poet.  Here’s an example:

                        CEIBA TREES

In the silence of Copan Ruins
the wind blows
through the Ceiba trees,
a symbol for the Mayans
of the ever present
spiritual world.
I am reminded
by the moaning wind,
as I view the deserted temples
that I am alone.
My loneliness forms itself into
dew droplets on the Ceiba leaves,
drips on to the stone reliefs
that make up this city.

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These days Gene works in walls, making them beautiful.  His mosaics on a wall, of his garage or his house, often take him a year. He cuts up tiny pieces, including mirrors, and then places them on walls and other places, too, to make a new beauty.  Here is his recent mural from the other side of the front of his home in Durham.

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And here is the chimney.


He says this is his neighborhood watch sign.  Gene is waving.

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