All posts tagged: Community mosaic making

…. And a Magic Garden in Philadelphia

Published by gertrud

Visiting friends and relatives in the USA is always a good opportunity to discover with them the mosaic treasures of their place. This time I went to visit my nephew Cornelius in Philadelphia where he is doing a gap year for Action Reconciliation Service for Peace in a social project that cares for immigrants in Camden near Philadelphia. He was happy to tag along a tour of mosaics in Philli. First we visited the “Dream Garden” (see previous blog) and then went on to the “Magic Garden” of this otherwise very urban city centre full of beautiful art deco and newer buildings. https://www.phillymagicgardens.org/about-philadelphias-magic-gardens/themes/ Magic Garden is a life long project of Isaiah Zagar who used the work initially as therapy from a mental break down. The Magic Garden is a project classified under the term “ Art environment”. It’s now a foundation and we could even join a tour of this crazily busy mosaic project. What drew my attention? I am interested in grout lines (the interstices between the mosaic pieces) and how to use …

Embroidery pattern – Mosaic, Washington DC

Published by gertrud

Turning embroidery patterns into mosaics has always appealed to me. Cross stitch patterns in particular are notated in small squares. Pixel mosaic templates are produced in the same way. I wanted to use this equality in the design templates to create an embroidery pattern mosaic. In March/April 2024, I worked with over 50 women from the World Bank Family Network in Washington DC to create a community mosaic based on embroidery patterns. The patterns come from embroidery and other textile works from many cultures, which women from different parts of the world discovered, photographed and sent in for the project. Each woman has written a short text about the embroidery design and her relationship to it. At the moment, one of these stories appears on Facebook every week. I will forward them to you: <iframe src=%2Fposts%width=”500″ height=”586″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”true” allow=”autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share”></iframe> <iframe src=%2Fposts%width=”500″ height=”638″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”true” allow=”autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share”></iframe>

Möckernkiez Community Mosaic

Published by gertrud

The video of the community mosaic “Möckernkiez” is here! A document of the creative work of a house community. ” I would not have thought that my neighbors could produce such beautiful designs. Now I see some of them with a whole new set of eyes.” a resident and participant in the Mosaik project told me during the opening of the first part of the Community Mosaik for House 1 in the Möckernkiez in Berlin Kreuzberg. 32 residents from the 22 apartments that use Staircase A on a daily basis each designed a mosaic tile. On May 5, the mosaic tiles were installed by me and 3 other helpers from the house in the entrance area as a frieze. Saturday, May 6, was scheduled for joint grouting. Unfortunately, no one had signed the list of helpers. We “installers”, still tired from the previous day’s concentration and physical exertion, were worried. Would we manage to grout and clean the mosaic before the inauguration which was scheduled for 3pm? We started to mix the grout. And lo …