Sunday 7 August 2011

Out And About Looking at Mosaics

This is just a quick little blog for anyone who is interested in mosaics.

Recently my brother Chris came to stay for a visit, so every second of my spare time was taken up in taking him to and fro to check out various parks and museums.  During our little jaunts we kept noticing mosaic artworks here and there, some of which I photographed.  Just thought I would share them with you as I thought they were very clever. 

The first one we came across was at  St Bedes Anglican church at Semaphore,  which is an old suburb of Adelaide  by the beach.   St Bedes is an old church which happens to be the church where my grandparents were married and I had not been there before, so it was interesting to look around the outside.  Apparently they have an art and craft market there once a month, so must check that out too. There was a large wall mosaic (sorry my photo did not turn out) and the one below was on the ground at one of the entrances to a church hall.

Mosaic at St Bedes Church Semaphore

The second one we came across was a mosaic seat in a little park called the Stockade Park, which is a charming little park tucked away in a suburb of Adelaide.   It was originally an old quarry and it has been turned into garden where lots of people get married.  This is a view of the whole mosaic seat and below it are some section views.


Park Bench at Stockade Botanic Park




The next day we went to an historical museum at Enfield (another suburb of Adelaide) which was surrounded by gardens in which we found another of these mosaic seats.

Park Bench in grounds of Enfield Historic Museum

While we were visiting Gawler, a city north of Adelaide we came across this rather arty toilet block done with square tiles.

Mosaic on a wall at Gawler, South Australia

Mosaic on a wall at Gawler, South Australia

 Finally, we ended up coming across another pretty toilet block at Morgan, which is a town on the River Murray.  My cousin Jim lives there an is an authority on the history of Morgan and the River Murray Paddle Steamers.   There are a lot of pelicans on the River Murray and a clever mosaic artist has depicted once here.  In  the pioneer days there were large numbers of paddle steamers which carried passengers and cargo up and down the river, stopping on their way at river ports like Morgan, so the second one depicts the steering wheel and flag from a river boat.  A number of these boats have been restored and are still on the river as tourist attractions.




Mosaic at Morgan, South Australia

Mosaic at Morgan, South Australia

And finally, I went to my friend Rosemary's and in her garden she had a mosaic bird bath, upon which I happened to place the lemons she was giving me.  I really liked the look of them on there so I took a photo and I am now doing a watercolour painting of the lemons resting on their mosaic base.  Hopefully I will finish it successfully!

Rosemary's Birdbath and Lemons


Well, that's my short blog on the mosaics we came across during one week in July.  I'm going to be on the lookout for more from now on as I really like them.  Cheers.

1 comment:

  1. Oh My those are beautiful mosaics! We recently visited Hot Springs where an old hotel had various mosaics. Just beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

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