Zart Extra Term 4 2011
Stationary Faces
The groups who have participated in this community project have included the following: Karen Levy + year 9 students from Mc Kinnon Secondary College, Helen Kuriata & year 10 students Mc Kinnon Secondary College, Jill Anderson & year 7 & 10 students Glen Eira College, Jill Stanbury + students from Wesley College, Elsternwick, Jo Harris & 4 year old group Bentleigh West Kindergarten, Staci Sterenberg & the St Andrew School, Chicago, USA, Karen Ami & Students from the Chicago Mosaic School, Paula Rose & year 5 students MLC, Priscilla Williams & Year 4 students Scotch College, Karen Neilsen & year 5 Brighton Grammar School, Jane Byrne & year 9 boys from the Sea Change program, Audrey Cardona & Westbourne Grammar School, John Irving & year 7 Beaconhills College Pakenham.
Four years ago I relocated my studio to the little village of Patterson in Bentleigh, Melbourne. Having a passion for mosaic environments, I was keen to turn the studio into my own little mosaic haven. Soon after moving in, I began to mosaic my courtyard. Every surface of my studio courtyard now is covered in mosaic tiles of bird images. The “Birds of a Feather” Courtyard, as it has come to be known, was created with the help of five women from the mosaic association, who I mentored. We ran a community mosaic day, inviting people to make a bird mosaic. Approximately seventy-five members of the community were involved. That initial wall inspired students from Mc Kinnon Secondary College (together with their very enthusiastic teacher Karen Levy) to make more mosaic tiles. Generously, they gifted them to me for inclusion in the courtyard. Another section of wall was covered by students from Sandringham Secondary College, with the help of their teacher Maria Morabito. The courtyard is a great example of what can be achieved in a small yard space. It has been featured in many magazines. Once the courtyard was covered, I felt I needed to find more surfaces to cover. I set my sights on Patterson Station, 50 metres from my studio.
The underpass of Patterson Station was a huge temptation for me! That large expanse of concrete wall was just begging to be covered in mosaic! So I applied for an Arts Victoria Grant to create a community-based project. The theme I proposed was faces – to reflect the diversity of the people using the station. The initial proposal involved covering 30 square metres of the underpass. However, currently I have covered 130 square metres!
Initially, I contacted some of the local schools that I have a relationship with, to see if they would like to be involved in the project. However, the “community” that is represented on the walls of Patterson Station is much broader than Bentleigh. The project has grown and grown, with the generous contributions from schools all over Melbourne.
Furthermore, in February this year I was the keynote speaker at the Society of American Mosaic Artists Conference in Austin Texas. My address was mainly about my latest commissions for Luna Park, Melbourne. At the end of my address, I spoke a little about the Patterson Station project and invited the audience to send a mosaic face to me for inclusion in the station project. I thought that I would receive maybe 3 or 4 faces. However, to date, I have received 78 portraits from the USA. I have also received one from Italy, one from the West Indies and some are on their way from the UK. Many of these have come from followers of my Facebook Fan Page.
The mural is a wonderful teaching tool. It contains all the styles and materials available to the contemporary mosaicists. It illustrates what works in mosaic (and what doesn’t). I think this has been a very successful Community Arts project for many reasons. Each face has been made by an individual or a group, rather than just placing one or two tiles onto a pictorial mural. The fact that people have their own complete section of the mural is important. I was not too prescriptive about what the face/portrait should be, or the size. This gave people the liberty to be creative and represent themselves or someone they love in whatever way was most evocative of their character.
Pamela Irving
Artist & Zart Education Consultant
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Key words: Zart Extra, newsletter, article, teacher resource, School Projects
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