Community Art

I've had a busy couple of weeks, we started building the mosaic at Belper Goes Green last weekend, I estimated about 200 people have taken part in putting it together and I'm really happy with how it's looking. 

I also had two helpers, Eleanor and Heidi, both from the university of Derby, who volunteered their time to help make the mosaic and chat to participants. There's still a bit more work to do before it can be installed, but its looking great. 

On Friday I ran a drop in workshop for Somercotes library, it was their 25th anniversary and this little treasure trove of tomes held a well being event with hand massages, refreshments and me, making silver anniversary decorations with memories from the past 25 years written on them. 

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, art, books and people chatting about their lives. I spoke to some fascinating people including a lady with a wealth of qualifications including a degree in glass making and a lovely chap who made a fish, simply saying that he used to fish a lot. We also had some emotional moments as another lady remembered her father in law, he had died 25 years ago and she obviously thought a lot of him. 

This is the part of community art I love, it becomes a real privilege to listen to people's life stories and its always fascinates me to hear all their stories. 

Advice needed!

I've been thinking about how I could run a mosaic course. I'm basically self taught in this discipline and work in an instinctive manner.

This means I don't put any design onto paper, I do use some paintings or collages that I've made, but not in any 'design' way. They are purely inspiration. I'm not sure what is expected from a mosaicing course, would an element of design be expected? Or could I teach from a purely 'see how it goes' method? I usually put my main pieces down and see what works, then work tiles, glass and beads around them. I play by moving the shapes around. Would this work as a workshop? I'd also be interested in how I could develop a community project and I'm not sure where to start with this. Any advice or thoughts would be welcome!