All posts tagged: Community mosaic making

Embroidery pattern – Mosaic, Washington DC

Published by gertrud

Turning embroidery patterns into mosaics has always appealed to me. Cross stitch patterns in particular are notated in small squares. Pixel mosaic templates are produced in the same way. I wanted to use this equality in the design templates to create an embroidery pattern mosaic. In March/April 2024, I worked with over 50 women from the World Bank Family Network in Washington DC to create a community mosaic based on embroidery patterns. The patterns come from embroidery and other textile works from many cultures, which women from different parts of the world discovered, photographed and sent in for the project. Each woman has written a short text about the embroidery design and her relationship to it. At the moment, one of these stories appears on Facebook every week. I will forward them to you: <iframe src=%2Fposts%width=”500″ height=”586″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”true” allow=”autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share”></iframe> <iframe src=%2Fposts%width=”500″ height=”638″ style=”border:none;overflow:hidden” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”true” allow=”autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share”></iframe>

Möckernkiez Community Mosaic

Published by gertrud

The video of the community mosaic “Möckernkiez” is here! A document of the creative work of a house community. ” I would not have thought that my neighbors could produce such beautiful designs. Now I see some of them with a whole new set of eyes.” a resident and participant in the Mosaik project told me during the opening of the first part of the Community Mosaik for House 1 in the Möckernkiez in Berlin Kreuzberg. 32 residents from the 22 apartments that use Staircase A on a daily basis each designed a mosaic tile. On May 5, the mosaic tiles were installed by me and 3 other helpers from the house in the entrance area as a frieze. Saturday, May 6, was scheduled for joint grouting. Unfortunately, no one had signed the list of helpers. We “installers”, still tired from the previous day’s concentration and physical exertion, were worried. Would we manage to grout and clean the mosaic before the inauguration which was scheduled for 3pm? We started to mix the grout. And lo …

Of checkers, flowers and hummingbirds

Published by gertrud

Yesterday afternoon at the Muzzio mosaic workshop the bell rang. It always rings when one of the 4×8” (1x2m) mosaic boards is finished. Everyone stood in awe around the table. The mosaic depicts symbols of 3 cultures: a brown and black checkered and a green thiestel head for  Scotland, blue pastell colored flowers on a white background standing for Sweden and a sparkling humming bird representing the Amah Mutsun culture which were the Indian population that lived here around Watsonville for thousands of years before the Spanish came. The population of Watsonville is characterized by many waves of immigrants that came to work in the agricultural industry since centuries. People from all over the world were drawn to California to make a better living through manual labour on the fields. Now the population of  Watsonville is 85% Mexican. From a small exhibition about the history of immigration and agriculture at the Watsonville public library I took this quote:   This is a 5 year community art project to decorate the city garage entirely with mosaics featuring …