designs for the Overnewton Artist in Residence Project

Here are some designs in process by groups of students. They are making actual size designs for their mosaic panels.
The first picture is an example design made by Debbie Qadri. It has the rabbit template on it. The template is a piece of paper cut out the same shape and size as the rabbit in the design. It will be used as a pattern when Debbie makes the rabbit out of clay, so that she can be sure it will fit into the actual mosaic.

To see the blog dedicated to this project go to:
http://yr8overnewtonmosaics.blogspot.com/
or click on: view my complete profile ( below right) and go to the blog from there



below are more designs in process, by the yr 8 students at Overnewton who are doing the mosic project.

Overnewton College artist in residence project

Debbie Qadri is undertaking an Artist in Residence Project at Overnewton College.
The project is to assist students make six 1X1 metre panels of mosaics with ceramic features based on the theme:Alice in Wonderland.
The first part of the mosaic process is to work with students on their designs. The theme is Alice in wonderland and the students are working in groups of four to design their mosaic. The detailed parts of their mosaic will be made out of clay as low relief sculpture. In their groups they have drawn pictures and cut them out. As a team they must arrange their pictures to compose their design. here are some designs in progress.

Have a look at the blog dedicated to this project:
http://yr8overnewtonmosaics.blogspot.com/








Here is a link to the overnewton college newsletter with a description of the project:
http://www.overnewton.vic.edu.au/whispers/_download/www.overnewton.vic.edu.au/whispers/_pub/wizard_newsletter/Whispers100907web.pdf

mosaic sculpture by other people

please note this is a post about other people's artwork
I use it for reference

for example here is a blog by two artists in USA who make public artworks and on their blog there is some great information about the technical side of their work and the processes they go through:
http://www.deepcraft.org/deep/archives/category/current-projects/abundance



Nikki also has made a tarot garden
http://www.nikidesaintphalle.com/


this is by NIkki st.de phalle. who is french, but this sculpture is in the USA




This sculpture is by a person called jyna, below is a link to their website
http://www.jynja.com/mosaicsGallery.htm




Fred Smith is an american guy who made a sculpture park

Nek Chand

2nd steps of making the giant baby blue bunny mailbox

Here is a detail of the ears. I have put a piece of wire across the ear to hold it in place while I add the concrete. I will snip the wire off after I have added enough concrete to hold it in place and it is dry.


You can only add a little bit of concrete at a time. So I built up half the rabbits ears on saturday and then on sunday I can add some more. Patience. What is that? What you mean I have to stop and wait till tomorrow!
I have been putting in two or three hours a day. This blog shows what I have accomplished by the third day.





By the second day I was able to put the top coat onto some parts of the rabbit, which is a mixture of mortar mix with a little bit of cement thrown in for strength.

The whiskers of my rabbit were made at the Blacksmithing barn in Bundoora park. They are pieces of iron, heated up in the forge and bent into shape by using a hammer on the anvil. The other ends are bent to so that they stay locked in the cement and can't be pulled out. However well I planned to have them locked in place, it didn't work out that way, so they are a bit wobbley. I put too many little bits of foam above them and the concrete never made it down to lock them into place as well as I would have liked. So it is definitley think and plan all you like but learn as you go, by your mistakes.

giant baby blue bunny mailbox first steps

here is the first sequence of photos and instructions for how to make a giant baby blue bunny mailbox.
you will need
a metal chair skeleton
10 metres of wire netting
8 bags of mortar mix
1 bag of cement
ceramic features ( unglazed on the back, but glazed on the front)
star pickets
metal whiskers
crushed rock / screenings
buckets gloves etc.
a pot of tea
an empty piece of land


Then you begin mixing up the concrete: 5 cans of mortar mix, 1 of cement, 2 or 3 of screenings. And begin rubbing it through the wire. This is my third concrete sculpture project, but I am still working it out. You have to play with putting supports inside your sculpture so that its not entirely full of cement ( because then you might need 16 bags of mortar mix) but also you need some of the concrete to be able to grab onto your support structure. I spent a fair while fiddling with these problems. I ended up finding a foam box and breaking it into small pieces and shoving it through the wire to fill large areas so that the concrete didn't just fall down to the bottom.



Here I amillustrating the construction apparel. A shirt is good to wear because it closes tight around your wrist and allows the glove to cover it. The skirt is a bit silly. Don't wear a skirt. Gumboots are great because you don't have to worry if you get cement on them.


as you can see it has to be well constructed with bits of metal and star pickets driven deep into the ground. I have made some spaces for the mail to go using plumbing pipe and garden pots. Also I have wrapped up a huge ball of leftover plastic and put it in the centre underneath to stop that being an empty hole where concrete gathers. I have also put bricks around the base to make the sculpture heavier at the bottom and to act again as a filler.