When art and community meet…pics and top tip!

You are never to young or old to make mosaics.  And here is the proof.

These are pictures from one of the mosaic community projects I have been running in the last two months (yes, I’ve been a busy bee). Lots of women are gathering to make this mosaic celebrating our unity amidst our diversity.

Some of the participants – May, Caroline, Belle and Joti

The youngest participant has been 2 years old, and the oldest, Belle, is 91! She wins the prize for being my oldest ever student (and what a fantastic job she has been doing in the last 5 weeks).

 

Here’s a mosaic technique I invented to help people create neat borders to elements of the picture.  Use blu-tack to create an edge to each ‘form’ so that pieces are not stuck in the wrong places. Once each form is stuck, you just remove the blu-tack and voila’! Good for mosaic making with children too 🙂

We have 3 weeks left to finish this piece of community art (eek!) before it is unveiled in the community centre where it will live.  It has been wonderful sitting together, nipping, sticking and sharing stories with people of different ages and backgrounds (we have counted true Londoners, Scottish, Ugandan, Indian, Italian, Albanian, Pakistani, Sudanese, Jamaican and more amongst our origins!).  I just love it when art and community meet.

5 Responses to “When art and community meet…pics and top tip!”

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  1. OBJohn says:

    A good tip – I'll be able to use that in my kids projects. Thanks. JOB

  2. Jacqui (Jax to my friends) says:

    Great project!. I see that there is a large gap between the R and the L or WORLD..looks like
    ONE WOR LD…is it too late to move it?
    I love all the little people and congrats on your oldest student, I have one who is 90 and one who is 82 at the moment too..they are amazing to listen to as you say they have seen so many changes in their lives.

  3. Concetta says:

    Jax, I asked the group and they were happy with the gaps – now that its all mosaiced its not that obvious, but thank you for pointing that out. Finished sticking today and it looks amazing!

  4. joyce says:

    what is blu-tack? Is there a similar product I can find in the USA? I live in Los Angeles, California.

    • Concetta says:

      Sticky tak? Its a bit like playdough, but sticky and you use it to stick pictures to a wall (it peels off easily without taking paint with it). Hope that helps Joyce.