INSTITUTE OF MOSAIC ART LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS:
MOSAIC MURAL MAKING IN WEST AFRICA
Laurel True and Lillian Sizemore
As featured in the upcoming Groutline!
Laurel and Lillian will talk about the community mosaic mural making process as they show slides of the creation of the mosaic mural "Spirits and Folklore of Ghana", a 22' mixed media mosaic sited in the seaside village of Nungua.
This mural was completed in 8 days with the help of over 40 community memebrs at Aba House Cultural Center. A short film will be presented by Lillian Sizemore showcasing footage of collecting mosaic materials, interviews with Ghanaian participants and lots of progress shots of this wonderful project.
Spirits and Folklore of Ghana was awarded Best Mural in the International category this year by Precita Eyes Mural Center in San Francisco.
Laurel will also show slides and talk about the six other large-scale community projects she has facilitated in Ghana, West Africa over the last five years.
Relax, Enjoy and Be Inspired!
7:00pm - 9:30pm
$5 IMA students, $10 non-students
Includes wine and cheese refreshments
For more info about this series, please vistit:
http://www.instituteofmosaicart.com/lecture.html
Also:
http://www.SFmosaic.com/news/sunDetail/index.php
http://www.mosaicatlas.com/
SPIRITS AND FOLKLORE OF GHANA
AWARDED “Best Mural” in International category for Precita
Eyes Mural Center Awards, San Francisco, CA
Title:
Spirits and Folklore of Ghana A community project in partnership
with Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc.
Facilitated
by: Laurel True with Lillian Sizemore, and Anna Webb
with participation by community members of Nungua, Ghana
Completed: July 2004
Sited at: Aba House Cultural Center, Nungua, Ghana, West
Africa
Dimensions: 22 feet wide x 6.5
feet high
Materials: Ceramic tile, mirror,
pebbles, seashells, glass, and mixed media
Text by Lillian Sizemore
"Spirits and Folklore of Ghana" is the artwork resulting of a 2004 summer
workshop designed and facilitated by Laurel True of True Mosaics in Oakland,
CA. Her workshop, Community Mosaic Mural Making, was offered at Aba House
Cultural Center located in the seaside town of Nungua, in Ghana, West
Africa. "Spirits" is one of five community mosaic projects led by True for
Aba House, completed over the course of four summers. For the past four
years True has self-funded these community projects in Ghana, receiving a few small donations of materials.
The mural imagery deals with local myth, folklore, traditional spirits and
their stories. Upon arrival in Ghana, we interviewed and collected stories
from local residents and translated the stories into a drawing that would be
the basis for the mural. The pictorial mural depicts Mami Wata, the
mermaid/fertility spirit of the Ocean; the three-headed Spirit of the River
Densu; Christian churches; the 99 spirits of Nungua; Anansi the spider
trickster hanging from a lush tree, and Numo Borketey Lawe (the recognized
protector of Nungua) with detailed elements of his story such as his
footprint enshrined on the rocks, a fish with a special message, and a
sacrificial cow.
We brought around 70 pounds of bright glazed tile from the States as well as
glass beads and tools. Once in Ghana, we sourced additional local tile,
thin set, and grout (filler) in the markets. The local kids gathered shells
and pebbles from the beach. Local cement artist, James Ahiave, added relief
sculpture to the basic concrete block wall we used as a base for our mural.
The Snakes, Sun and Rocks received this sculptural treatment and add a very
pleasing three-dimensional effect to the mosaic.
Local community members helped transfer the design to the wall and over 30
participants; youth, adults, artists and non-artists, all helped to set the
mosaic. Many of this year's participants had worked with True on the prior
community mosaic projects, while many new participants joined for the first
time this summer. Some people worked every day, some just stopped by to set
a few pieces and were on their way. The community participants ranged in age
from 4 - 65 years. The entire process took us about 8 days to complete. The
mural's design reflects the various levels of tile setting skills the group
brought to the table: from Byzantine-style square set, to hand-nipped shapes
and broken tile fitting, and simple placement of pebbles and shells, the
piece truly reflects the hands of it's makers.
The mural now serves not only as a decorative piece and symbol of cultural
identity, but also an educational tool for local youth. These mural
workshops have also provided some locals with tile setting skills leading to
much-needed employment.
In addition to "Spirits and Folklore", Laurel True and community members
completed two additional mosaic murals with the Nungua community in summer 2004 (Respect the Earth and Adinkra Hene), and a small group of boys ages 12-14 initiated and completed a mosaic mural of their own design. It was a productive and art-filled summer!
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