While away from you all during the past month, I had the great pleasure of getting to know downtown Oakland, California, a city with which I was fairly familar but never really got to know as I did during our three weeks of walking and talking public transportation around this interesting city. One of the first things I thought I’d share with you, is this wonderful community project the results of which are seen along Grand Avenue in the Lake Merrit region. The idea behind the project was to encourage passerby to use the recycling bins and of course to give otherwise personality-less street furniture an artful and personal touch. Enjoy these fabulous examples, and maybe there’s still time for a little summer mosaic project?
I’m assuming that these mosaics were affixed to existing bins by designing and assembling the patterns on a mesh backing of some kind, in a work space, and then installed and grouted on site. Would love to find out more about the process, anyone know anything? It was done by the Adam’s Point Community Association, with support from the City of Oakland.
A pattern like this is easy to design and produce, and while much less labor intensive than some of the other designs, has it’s own qualities that make it eye-catching and attaractive.
While many of the pieces were made by shattering tiles, some were quite obviously cut, like the curved brown pieces which comprise the trunk and branches of the tree.
This humming bird reminds me of a t-shirt from my childhood, and I love the use of mirror to add some shine.
I just love the red and black foreground in this one, don’t you? Okay, I haven’t done any mosaic in about 10 years, so maybe it’s time once again, especially on account of that box of tiles and broken dishes sitting in the attic waiting for their turn! Time will tell!
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