1: How did it start? "In the beginning I was asked to make a mosaic frame for someone," she remembers, "after that, I simply fell in love with the craft." Born in cultural Dresden, Germany and always around artists as long as she remembers, she studied Fabric Design and painting at Hamburg Art Collage in the 60`s. Later on her former husband George Derpapas, well respected Greek surrealist painter continued to encourage her in the arts, and today she still transforms some of his paintings into rich, colorful mosaics.

2: Monika finally found her muse on Mykonos, and anyone venturing into her cozy little art studio there, will no doubt, be fascinated to see how she works from thousands of obscure, delicately cut pieces of colored stone and marble. Of course, the basic design is mapped out in pencil at the start, then by the color, shape, and size the stones are made to fit the design. After that, she slowly begins to cement each tiny stone and marble cube to a cloth surface one by one to a desired area where the image eventually begins to emerge.

3: As an artist, Monika is very well aware of living in a country where mosaics have a long-standing tradition. She says, "You know, the earliest known mosaic work in Greece date back from the 8th century BC and were actually composed of pebbles." Greek mythology is also one of her favorite subjects, and at times she incorporates this subject matter into her work. Here we have an artist who does  not shun the word "decorative" and as Monika says, It`s just opposite of what most people believe...my whole aim is to create decorative objects.