Pieces of Brecky's life

Stand in one place too long, and Brecky Thomas Lavigne might turn you into a work of art.
Lavigne, of Tate Cove, said, “My children joke, ‘If we don’t move, she will mosaic us!’”
A Ville Platte City Court deputy clerk by day, and a mosaic artist in almost all of her spare time, Lavigne’s road to becoming a mosaicist started in a most unexpected way.
In 2010, Lavigne was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain.
“I used to coach, exercise —the active life I lived was no more because of my disease,” Lavigne said.
In addition to her doctor recommending that she find other ways to stay active, Lavigne said she also experienced a bit of divine intervention as she looked for a new version of an active lifestyle.
“With the disease, you go from being active to not active, and I was in a place where I needed inspiration,” she said. “I walked outside my home and I talked to God. I told Him this can’t be it with my life.
“I looked out in the yard at all God had created. I’m not super religious but God was telling me to look at what he had created.”
Lavigne began to explore different forms of art on the website Pinterest, which she laughingly referred to as “her best friend.”
“I saw works from a lady who created something from nothing, broken pieces, like me, into just about anything,” Lavigne said.
Lavigne started out purchasing books about mosaic art and mosaic art materials. She also watched Youtube videos and began to practice making pieces and critiquing her work.
“The more I did, the more I wanted to do,” Lavigne said. “The anxiety caused by my disease started to go away. Mosaic art taught me to observe. It inspired me. Every day is now a day to create.
“Years ago, when you would break something, your parents would get mad. Now I keep things that break. My kids call me Fred Sanford. I turn trash into treasure.”
Lavigne uses materials like tiles, glass plates and wood to create her works.
“Anything I can beautify,” she said. “Everything can be repurposed.”
When her daughter left for college, Lavigne turned her child’s old room into a workspace, and a shed in her yard is now stuffed to the gills with mosaic art materials.
In the two years since she began creating mosaic art, Lavigne has created pieces including a lion, a jewelry box, a giraffe, her mosaic “junk trunk,” tables and mirrors.
“The colors change with my art, like with the sun piece and the different colors of the rays of sunshine — the rays are my feelings about the disease,” Lavigne said. “The clouds represent what we can no longer reach, the things that you used to do that you can’t do anymore.”
“I would recommend mosaic art to fibromyalgia patients. It will get you out of that mood of fatigue and help with the pain.”
Lavigne also creates and sells jewelry to fund her mosaic habit.
One of her recently completed mosaic works commemorates the victims of the June 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Mosaic tile paths representing the victims all intersect with one path, the one what led them all to be in the same place at the same time that night, cuts completely across the piece of artwork.
“When I started out doing mosaic art, I would never have imagined this,” Lavigne said. “I wake up at night and jot down ideas.
“When you can literally do something from sun up to sun down and it does not feel like work, what is that? Passion. At 47 years old, I found my passion.”
Lavigne works on multiple mosaic pieces at a time, and the works take her anywhere from a week to two and a half weeks to complete.
Lavigne sold her first piece of mosaic art, a work featuring a bumblebee, last October. Lavigne promotes her work via social media, and her pieces can be viewed at www.facebook.com/brecky.lavigne. Her business is called ToshBug Creations.
“When my nest became an empty nest, I wondered what I would do, what my legacy would be,” Lavigne said. “I wanted to do something so different. I have a burning desire, and my desire is to create. I’ve got to mosaic.”
Lavigne is currently studying criminal justice and social science at Louisiana State University at Eunice, but she said she may eventually pursue a bachelor’s degree in art. Lavigne said she also plans to attend mosaic art workshops and maybe one day teach others how to create mosaic art.
“I aspire to inspire,” she said. “Not many people around here do mosaic art. I wish it would come to Ville Platte, especially for the children.”
Lavigne said she already sees the sparkle of interest in her young grandson’s eyes when he joins her in her work area.
She said, “Not everyone is an athlete. Not everyone is smart. With children, you have to pull it (the desire to learn more) out of them. Mosaic art can do that. Mosaic art is like mediation. It’s calming, but you are so excited to see what it will look like at the end. Mosaic art has taught me to take from the day and give to the day.”
Lavigne said such activities keep children motivated and gives them something constructive to do with their time.
“In the black communities I see so many young kids that never have that, a place to go, but there is no one to teach them either,” Lavigne said. “I want to give them a place to do this. I would like to teach mosaic to underprivileged kids. My goal is to bring mosaic art to Ville Platte.
“When I think about my grandson, I think about ways to teach and get more involved in community and get kids off the street.”