Located so it is accessible to all, public art often has significance for the place in which you find it – commemorating an event, inviting interaction, or celebrating a cooperative effort by the community. Mosaics are robust. They’re great outdoors and invite a touch. These mosaics showcase what can be done when projects are commissioned by individuals or organisations such as councils, schools, boards or businesses.
The Waimārama School Mosaic Project was made possible by a grant from the Ministry of Education under the auspices of the “Creatives in Schools” programme. The goal is to teach the students the art of making mosaics and to also create a work that is based on local stories and that will be installed on the school grounds.
In September 2010 and February 2011 Christchurch experienced two major earthquakes that reshaped the city, with many lives lost and others changed forever. Sometimes broken isn’t meant to be fixed – instead we can only piece together the fragments to create something new and hopefully just as beautiful. These stories that were too precious to throw away were instead given a new life by the talented Crack’d for Christchurch team.
A proud New Zealand story to tell. The ten metres of mosaic wall at the Heretaunga Women’s Centre, Hastings, presents NZ women from Kate Sheppard in 1893 to a jean-clad Jacinda Ardern with baby Neve in 2018.
Remembering the 1981 Ohinemuri Flood. “News came at 5 pm that Waikino had been washed away by a surge of water a metre high”
This mosaic, called ‘Renewing The Earth’, has been produced for a wall at Baradene College in Auckland. Con Kiernan was commissioned to produce a mosaic wall to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Janet Erskine Stuart’s death in Britain.
“It took as long as a pregnancy”, said mosaic artist Pat George, Northland reflecting on her commission to mosaic the entranceway to Whangarei’s new maternity unit Te Kohutu in 2015. The unit opened in February 2016.
Climb the steep slope up Days Track in Nelson and you’ll be relieved to find an amazing mosaic couch which absolutely invites you to stop for breath, take in the stunning view over Tasman Bay and Tahunanui, and wonder at the dedication of a community and the inspiration of a group of Nelson mosaic artists who created ‘Sofa so Good.’
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