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| The Diving Mermaid and the Twirling Mermaids |
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| The air conditioner transformed into an outboard motor |
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| Lola - lolling on her fantasy rock and "reflecting" |
Rhagodia Mosaics _ Creating the Mermaid Mosaic July 2010 to July 2011
My ten year plan is to transform the
exterior of my modest, forty year old cream brick home into a tranquil mosaic
covered haven.
The plan was dreamed up during July
2010 as I struggled to cope with a flare up of psoriatic arthritis. Bed ridden,
and under the influence of self prescribed pain medication, I realised that I
needed a Project to focus my thoughts. A project that I could look back on and
see that I had travelled through a difficult time; and had come out the other
side with something to show for it.
I’d recently finished some mermaid
mosaic works for Exhibition. I still had more mermaid designs in my sketch book.
One was of a mermaid lolling against a fantasy rock while holding a mirror.
I was studying a Vocational Graduate
Certificate at that time, with “Reflective
Activity” being a component of the course. The idea of a narcissistic
mermaid being “reflective” appealed to me. (Or maybe that was the influence of
the pain medication?)
Each day, I shuffled outside to the
carport, and stuck tiles directly on to the cream brick wall. For some months,
half an hour a day was all I could cope with before I shuffled back inside.
When people visited, I waved my arms in the general direction of the wall and verbally
outlined my plan. When I talked about using permaculture design principles to
turn a problem into a feature by transforming the air conditioner on the wall
into a motor boat, most people just nodded their heads but I could tell they
were dubious. Then my brother Tom visited and immediately understood what I
meant; with his metre spirit level, he outlined the shape of the boat hull and pencilled
in a rudder under the air conditioner.
Two long term friends visited to see
if I needed help with daily living – could they shop, clean, do anything for
me? I said I needed them to pose on the floor (it was winter; fully clothed, of
course). Then I would trace their shapes on the newspaper, cut that out, and
then transfer it to the wall. Voila! Two life-sized twirling mermaids.
By December, while I was moving slowly
and coping with additional physical activity, I was still not able to reach the
higher parts of the wall to create the water meeting the sky. Again, friends
and relatives assisted. Not only did they tile the higher aspects of the mosaic
wall, many turned up for a “grouting party” in lieu of my birthday party and
grouted the sea and fantasy rock as well as Lola, the lolling mermaid.
The diving mermaid has the names of
everyone who assisted with the Mermaid Mosaic engraved into the ‘scales’ of her
tail.
By July 2011, the carport wall was
completely covered in mosaic. During August 2011 a large group of Australian
and international mosaic artists visited the Mermaid Mosaic.
I thank my amazingly marvellous friends
and relatives for their contributions of time and effort for tiling and
grouting along with collecting blue tiles, old crockery and mermaid accessories.
The 8m x 2m wall is now completed and
viewings are by appointment.
