Cyprus Mosaic Days ~ day Three
This has been copied from another blog site, written by me after travelling to Cyprus in September 2018. I want to keep it for reference, as it was an important pivotal trip for my mosaic practice.
I was promised mosaics, and I got them in abundance during days three and four of the Cypriot study trip. The Wednesday was all about the group making their own mosaics to take home, and so learning the dark arts of cutting tile, spacial awareness and sticking.
But first off, a quick visit to the local silversmiths just next door to the Student House.
There were two older men, casting beautiful silver pieces, many of them inspired by the history and flora & fauna of the area, including acorns (as the village of Kato Drys is named for the ancient Greek for oak - though few trees survive there today) and fertility symbols (see the last post about the museum). As we found elsewhere, their grown-up children didn't want to follow in their footsteps, but one of our group, Kirsty, did and hopes to have the chance to return and learn from them!
Top: one of the silversmiths, bottom: Martin taking a break
We then moved across to the student house, a charming house with an inner courtyard. As I already know mosaics, Panayiota left me to my own devices to make a mosaic on mesh for the brick oven that we were making. I let her teach the class, though couldn't resist assisting her when needed.
Panayiota has been making mosaics for the last few years, using mostly glass tile, but is very accomplished. I hope I showed a new way of working and cutting to increase her skill set! Love two-way sharing of info & skills!
I worked away on the fibreglass mesh which came from the back of the tiles, and used a box of ceramics which had come from Martin's kitchen and his collection of coffee cups, searching out the special bits to include in my designs which in turn were inspired by our visit to the museum at Nicosia. The neolithic pots with zoomorphic designs.
So I finished with a goat, a cow, a fish and a couple of my usual flowers.
Having spent a lot longer than planned with the silversmiths, the grouting actually took place later in the week, but here are their finished mosaics
And a few of us finished off the day with a swim in the sea… way to go!
This visit to Cyprus has been funded by Erasmus+, with Arch Network as the promoter and Kato Drys Community Council as our hosts. We were welcomed by Martin Clark, a resident of the town, who is also a partner in Arch Network, and is a Director of Grampus Heritage and training.