The Dock Mural
Large scale mosaic mural commissioned for The Dock Bar, Kingston Foreshore Canberra, ACT, 2019.
This mural was a Finalist in the Mosaic Arts International Architectural and Site Specific Section 2021.
This mural was a Finalist in the Mosaic Arts International Architectural and Site Specific Section 2021.
In this process I work as an artist and director of a team to fulfil the requirements of your brief. I listen to your ideas, make suggestions based on your site, develop a design, material and colour palette, then create a decorative or functional mosaic to fit your brief.
Larger scale commissions are undertaken with the assistance of mosaic artists from my studio.
Larger scale commissions are undertaken with the assistance of mosaic artists from my studio.
Work in progress images of The Dock Mosaic Mural, fabricated in the Blue Mountains NSW during 2018, with mosaic assistants from Hepworth Studios, and installed over 6 days in January 2019.
In May 2018, I was invited to quote on the construction of a large (6m x 3m) mosaic mural for ‘The Dock’ as restaurant and sports bar on the Kingston Foreshore in Canberra. After initial consultation, I visited the restaurant to meet with the owners, view the space and understand the atmosphere. They were updating several aspects of the interior and wished to replace a pre-existing painted mural with something more atmospheric and substantial.
Following initial design discussion, I prepared a small watercolour painting of the proposed composition which was approved by the clients. The desire for high quality products, texture and reflectivity, led us to the decision to work predominantly in a blend of Mexican and Italian smalti. The mural was framed with a rope look border around the mural which was created in a blend of nine colours of marble.
Once the materials had been ordered we began to scale up the design. Something of this scale would not fit in my studio in its entirety. To complete the scale drawing I hired a space and hand drew the design to scale on paper. From here the design was sectioned, then sections traced and labelled. We worked directly onto mesh with cement based adhesive. This method allowed us to keep the mosaic mobile, and to create self-supporting sections which could then be adhered directly to the wall.
Our team of mosaicists commenced work in late July and completed the sections in early December 2018. With over 200kg of materials to play with, our work was cut out for us with many long days and nights in the studio.
Our team travelled to Canberra to install the mosaic in January 2019. We were there for 6 days, and collectively put in 260 man hours for the installation. Our generous clients kept us fed, watered and entertained.
One of our major challenges was the large server window which was a very prominent feature on the wall. This window was a hand fashioned circle made of irregular pieces of timber. It was not possible to template this accurately which meant that we had to mosaic to the edge of the window on site.
The final result looks beautiful and the clients are extremely happy. The photos do not capture the beauty of the material which is breathtaking in person with near to 90 000 pieces in over 100 beautiful colours.
With sincere thanks to our amazing team.
Mosaicists: Caitlin Hepworth, April Keogh, Cindy Topic, Linda Weiss, Zuzia Baran, Vicky Bush, Georgina Findley.
Installation crew: Caitlin Hepworth, Mario Gauci, April Keogh, Cindy Topic, Linda Weiss, Kelly Wild, Kate Butler, Kim Grant and Merryn Martin.
Suppliers: Mosaic Magic, Smalti Australia, MDC Mosaics, Veroli Mario (Rome).
Following initial design discussion, I prepared a small watercolour painting of the proposed composition which was approved by the clients. The desire for high quality products, texture and reflectivity, led us to the decision to work predominantly in a blend of Mexican and Italian smalti. The mural was framed with a rope look border around the mural which was created in a blend of nine colours of marble.
Once the materials had been ordered we began to scale up the design. Something of this scale would not fit in my studio in its entirety. To complete the scale drawing I hired a space and hand drew the design to scale on paper. From here the design was sectioned, then sections traced and labelled. We worked directly onto mesh with cement based adhesive. This method allowed us to keep the mosaic mobile, and to create self-supporting sections which could then be adhered directly to the wall.
Our team of mosaicists commenced work in late July and completed the sections in early December 2018. With over 200kg of materials to play with, our work was cut out for us with many long days and nights in the studio.
Our team travelled to Canberra to install the mosaic in January 2019. We were there for 6 days, and collectively put in 260 man hours for the installation. Our generous clients kept us fed, watered and entertained.
One of our major challenges was the large server window which was a very prominent feature on the wall. This window was a hand fashioned circle made of irregular pieces of timber. It was not possible to template this accurately which meant that we had to mosaic to the edge of the window on site.
The final result looks beautiful and the clients are extremely happy. The photos do not capture the beauty of the material which is breathtaking in person with near to 90 000 pieces in over 100 beautiful colours.
With sincere thanks to our amazing team.
Mosaicists: Caitlin Hepworth, April Keogh, Cindy Topic, Linda Weiss, Zuzia Baran, Vicky Bush, Georgina Findley.
Installation crew: Caitlin Hepworth, Mario Gauci, April Keogh, Cindy Topic, Linda Weiss, Kelly Wild, Kate Butler, Kim Grant and Merryn Martin.
Suppliers: Mosaic Magic, Smalti Australia, MDC Mosaics, Veroli Mario (Rome).
Next Album: Micromosaic Bowl