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Monta May shows her current work in progress, strategically placing translucent glass onto a board Monday, Oct. 17. She will be using this as one part of her 3-piece series on the Mississippi River. (Photo by David Dvorak/ Winona360)

In an old house in the center of Winona, a tiny woman with red dreadlocks wrapped in handmade glass beads tends to her many passions.

What were once children's bedrooms are now work areas to facilitate her artistic callings, from painting to weaving to mosaics. Every inch of wall space is covered with family artwork. Sculptures are more prominent than furniture. The mosaic studio is filled with shelves of colored stones and glass, old art and works in progress. It's one of four studios inside the home. It feels like every other room in the house.

In the mosaic studio, Monta May, a local artist and art advocate - she runs the Winona Arts Center - cracks a slab of translucent glass into fingernail-sized pieces, creating material for the ancient art form she's spent the past three years perfecting.

May rests the slab of glass on the hardie, lines up her hammer, squints her eyes, tightens her lips and lightly taps the glass as tiny shards shoot onto an upright log.

It takes May nearly five hours to cut one square foot of glass - just enough to fill one jar.

"I like to use the old tools, the way it was historically done," May said. "The trick is to get them uniform, but I like a more organic feel to a piece."

The deep history of mosaic art quickly captured May's attention, and it soon became her main art form.

"I've fallen in love with ancient techniques," she said. "I see something from 2,000 years ago and think someone made that 2,000 years ago, and it's still here and it's beautiful."

May spends nearly 60 hours on each piece. It's a time-consuming process, but for her, it's a release.

"I get frustrated with the world, but never with art," May said. "It eases my worries and stress."

When May isn't busy working on her latest piece, she opens her home studios for workshops. Friends, neighbors and community members come every Monday to use her supplies and guidance to make their own mosaic art.

May stresses to those she teaches that artwork does not need to be perfect. It's a notion she began to understand, she said, as she moved from mosaics that represented specific objects and scenes toward more abstract designs.

"She really makes you feel proud of your work," said Amber Grace, a Winona State University student who took one of May's workshops. "She thinks everyone's artwork is always beautiful, no matter what age or skill level."

For May, integrating art in the community and providing opportunities for children and adults to pursue artistic outlets is a natural extension of her passions.

"She's an amazing, driving force of the artist community here," said Sam Brown, the founder of Winona's Mid West Music Fest, who volunteers at the center.

May draws much of her inspiration from another passion: The environment. Her current project is a three-piece mosaic on the Mississippi River. And she emphasizes sustainability in her artwork, from purchasing from local suppliers to using wax from one of the five beehives in her backyard to paint with. While mosaic art may be her main medium now, she constantly seeks new materials and techniques and incorporates them into her work.

"When I learn something new, I do it a whole bunch until I learn it," she said. "Then, I look for something else to do, because who wants to live a boring life? Especially when it's your own."