Designing for an exhibition
In response to an invitation to create a mosaic for an exhibition called Battlefield Blooms to be held at the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, here are some photos of how the artwork was developed.
The brief was to consider poppies, but also the cornflowers used by the French as their remembrance flower.
I was keen to incorporate some picassette, broken China, into the piece. To resonate with the ordinary man (or extraordinary men as it should be) I was thinking about domestic pottery and willow pattern sprung to mind as something possibly found in many households in 1914.
This was a test piece to work around the triangle idea and to use broken pottery within my design.
The triangle shape evolved from the British, French and German armies, although I appreciate that many other countries were involved and suffered huge losses too. It also reinforced the dynamic upward feel towards the dove of peace surrounded by golden tiles.
The circles towards the base are deliberately murky brown to echo the bomb holes on the battlefields. The scattering of hearts amongst the shell holes are obvious.
Here I am experimenting with the layout on paper, apologies for the feet showing in the photo!
And now transferring clipped red stained glass onto a thermal panel back board.
Now adding porcelain stems and building the background.
The finished piece, grouted and polished ready for submission.
