Recruitment of 2 new trustees

The London School of Mosaic is an independent art school teaching mosaic from short courses through to higher education, while being experts in facilitating major commissions and social impact projects with mosaic. The school is becoming an artist studio provider and art centre in 2022 bringing back into use 1690sqm of empty space on the Ludham Estate in Camden’s most deprived area.

We are looking for 2 new trustees to join our board at the earliest opportunity, to help us achieve our strategic aims for the next year and beyond:

• Secure and manage short and long term funding (Arts Council, National Lottery, Heritage Lottery etc), while monitoring programme outcomes and quality

• To diversify our audience and programmes, including building relationships with the art world, architects, designers, museums and with higher education institutions

• To integrate our new art centre/artist studio venture in the long term financial resilience of our organisation and develop a more rigorous monitoring of income streams

We are looking for candidates from the following areas of expertise and interest:

• Art, Design and Culture

• Finance and Accounting

To apply please send us your CV along with a supporting statement

We particularly welcome applications from those with diverse experiences and backgrounds. You do not need to have any experience in or knowledge of mosaic to make a big difference to our organisation.

Since we are a small organisation this role would suit somebody who is interested in active involvement.

The Mosaic Arts Center

As some of you may know, we have been working towards expanding the schools premises, including extra community space and artist studios. Despite the pandemic delaying the project, we are happy to say that this project is now going ahead!

The plan is to bring 1690 sqm of the disused garages out the back of the school into use, as space for community organisations, workshops, and artist studios. We define the project as a development of ‘civic space’, and as such we are focusing on accessibility for local people and community benefit. One third of the new space will be dedicated to community use, with a weekly programme of free activities. There will be a mix of community groups, local artisans, businesses and artists, creating both an art scene and a safe space for residents to engage with skills training, enterprise and community activity.

However, we do need help realising this project to its full potential. Due to the delays resulting from the pandemic we have had to strip back some of the scope of the project, and this is a real shame. If we can raise around £20 000 the space can be massively improved, we can sort out the lumpy floor, install interior insulation and generally make the space a nicer place to be. So, we are reaching out to everyone for help.

If you are able to, any donation big or small will lead to a huge benefit to us and all the users of LSoM:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-mosaic-arts-centre-fundraiser

Thank you in advance, and please share this link with family and friends, your continued support is what keeps the school going.

Announcement - New Director Appointed

Our board of trustees is pleased to announce that Dr Silvie Jacobi has been appointed as the next Director of the London School of Mosaic. Anyone passing through LSoM will recognise the massive contribution Silvie makes to the school.

As Director, Silvie will provide leadership and develop new initiatives to enable the school to prosper over the coming years, unlocking new potential in the Undercroft whilst furthering the core mission of LSoM.

Dr Silvie Jacobi has fifteen years of experience working in the industry, and was instrumental in creating the strong foundations of the London School of Mosaic with founder David Tootill. Silvie will build upon her track record by continuing to balance the values of our core community whilst developing modern systems and broadening our scope.

Prerana Phadnis, the Chair of Trustees, said, "I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Silvie Jacobi as the new Director of The London School of Mosaic (LSoM) on behalf of the Board of Trustees. Silvie starts in her new role in October 2021.

Please join me in extending a very warm welcome to Silvie in her new role and celebrating her 15 year commitment to developing Mosaic Art in the UK. In her current role as Head of Education at LSoM she has been instrumental in working closely with our current Director David Tootill in establishing the Diploma course in Mosaic studies which is in its third year. This is the first Mosaic Studies Diploma of its kind in the UK.

Silvie’s boundless energy, social responsibility and innovative ideas will no doubt take LSoM to new heights in the coming years.

Prerana Phadnis
Chair
Board of Trustees London School of Mosaic"

LSOM recipient of the Arts Council Recovery Grant

We are absolutely delighted to announce that The London School of Mosaic will receive £94 300 from the second round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.

If you have taken part in the community at any point over the last year we want to thank you, it is down to your good work and energy that The Arts Council puts their faith in us. So, congratulations everyone!

There are over 2,700 recipients of the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery fund, and we are among them.

This is going to allow us to finally fix up some of the parts of the school, pay local staff who have kept us running throughout the last year, and keep our free community projects rolling once we reopen in a couple of weeks. We have such a talented group of people here and this is finally being recognised by The Arts Council, we are very grateful. The next few months will be incredibly exciting for us so keep your eyes peeled for documentaries, exciting projects, newspaper articles, and of course beautiful mosaics.

The mosaic that marks the entrance to the London School of Mosaic, created by our Diploma students.

The Arts Council asked us to share more information about the scheme which we have included below:

More than £300 million has been awarded to thousands of cultural organisations across the country including The London School of Mosaic in the latest round of support from the Culture Recovery Fund, the Culture Secretary announced today.

Over £800 million in grants and loans has already been awarded to support almost 3,800 cinemas, performance venues, museums, heritage sites and other cultural organisations dealing with the immediate challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.

The second round of awards made today will help organisations to look ahead to the spring and summer and plan for reopening and recovery. After months of closures and cancellations to contain the virus and save lives, this funding will be a much-needed helping hand for organisations transitioning back to normal in the months ahead.

Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said:

“Our record breaking Culture Recovery Fund has already helped thousands of culture and heritage organisations across the country survive the biggest crisis they've ever faced.

Now we’re staying by their side as they prepare to welcome the public back through their doors - helping our cultural gems plan for reopening and thrive in the better times ahead."

Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair, Arts Council England, said:

“Investing in a thriving cultural sector at the heart of communities is a vital part of helping the whole country to recover from the pandemic. These grants will help to re-open theatres, concert halls, and museums and will give artists and companies the opportunity to begin making new work. 

We are grateful to the Government for this support and for recognising the paramount importance of culture to our sense of belonging and identity as individuals and as a society.”

The funding awarded today is from a £400 million pot which was held back last year to ensure the Culture Recovery Fund could continue to help organisations in need as the public health picture changed. The funding has been awarded by Arts Council England, as well as Historic England and National Lottery Heritage Fund and the British Film Institute. 

Summer School 2020 supported by Arts Council England

Making the Zoo mosaic, with the wall onto which mosaic is being installed behind the artists

There’s no better day than an English summer, when the sun is shining, the clouds are fleeting, the birdsong is carolling, the fragrance of food cooked with love wafts our way and we are making something beautiful that will last at least two hundred years.

Over the summer from the middle of July until September 4th, every weekday, we are making the Zoo mosaic, to decorate our wall outside the front of London School of Mosaic. This project was made possible by funding from the Arts Council England’s Covid Emergency grant, enabling us to run sessions for local residents including many families (e.g. Ludham and Waxham estate) and create opportunities for our freelance tutors.

The spark for our mosaic came from Henri Rousseau’s Tiger in a Tropical Storm, exhibited in the National Gallery. My own jungle story is that I went to Chefoo school in a Malaysian mountain jungle in the 1960’s, where you had to shut the bedroom door at night in case the tiger paid a visit. The teachers at the school generally were fearful of the jungle, but the kids loved it. Once I ran away with a group of kids, because of the oppressive behaviour of teachers, but we didn’t get far. The jungle was dense and we lost our way. I think in our escapade we saw a tiger – and froze. We were scared and found a stream and followed it and eventually made our way back to the dreaded school. Today, I understand the jungle is being encroached on by expanding towns and villages, with people setting up new homes and businesses along roadways, although the high mountains remain a sanctuary where tigers still roam. 

The Zoo mosaic has evolved into a notional five hundred animals, bugs, butterflies and birds which we expect about 500 people to help us make. It may take one or two years or even longer to complete. There is a lot of space to fill. Our workshop leaders set up for an 11am start and help teach, design, make and install until 4pm. The sessions are free for children and adults from our estate, and visitors are welcome to join in, encouraged to make a £10 donation. There is a maximum of twelve people at one time, but I’m sure I’ve seen sixteen sitting outside laying their tiles (remember social distancing please). Participants will learn the basic skills of mosaic making for an external installation and be involved in every stage of the process. Over one hundred installations have been put up so far: rhino, tiger, toucan, fox, flamingo among many others including leaves and a few trees and other creatures. The mosaic is iconic, rather than realistic, but we do want a likeness and most of the naïve work is being placed in the corner nearest to the school. Whatever goes up has to be of good technical standard, as this is our face to the world.  

I remember Picasso’s phrase – that he was born with the gifts of Raphael and Rembrandt, but spent much of his life as an artist trying to paint like a child. Mosaic has a particularly top flight history, the earliest ones decorating the temple of Inanna in the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk. The ancient North Africans, Greeks and Romans used mosaic mostly in pavements and on floors, often to show-off their wealth and learning. They installed a wide variety of subjects, including many gods, natural images as well as patterns. During the Byzantine era, mosaic depicted a new cosmology of the world, the spread of belief in one God centring on key figures in the biblical tradition as well as the introduction of later saints and martyrs. In Islam, mosaic was widely used to cover domes and write texts from the Koran into the surface of mosques. Then the most religious of mosaicists – Antoni Gaudi – liberated mosaic from its religious gravitas and took it into Park Guell in Barcelona, where he taught us to use colour, form, humour and expression to uplift the surface of our public spaces.

So now we are free to make mosaic wherever we want. The Zoo mosaic reminds us that humans are the ones in a cage – the incarceration of our own imagination – as we have sought to control nature and privatise earth, losing touch with our sharing and inclusive role as one small part of creation. The notion of Homo Deus is perhaps better seen as Homo Vacuous (at the moment), and the animals and plants we make in our mosaic remind us to play our part, rather than seek to dominate. How can we teach ourselves to be free? Perhaps by learning to love what we do: try making some mosaic, it makes you feel good.

Robert Field Library

Robert Field (aka Bob): teacher, academic, researcher and mosaic maker has given his library of mosaic books to London School of Mosaic. We thank him for his kind gift and will name our school library after him, with an explanation of his achievements kept on notice there. Future generations of our students will be able to make use of his largesse for their own studies. In one gesture of goodwill, Bob has doubled our number of books and greatly added to our library’s breadth and depth. While some close their libraries, (perhaps because they are a reminder that the best things in life are free), we will continue to expand ours.

One of the hundreds of books given to us by Robert Field

Bob lives in Swanage, a beautiful part of Dorset’s Jurassic coast. He retired as a Deputy Head Teacher over twenty years ago which gave him free rein to indulge his other main calling in life: being an artist. He was smitten with mosaic in particular after taking a course with Elaine M Goodwin in 1994. Thus began a long collaboration with many others which includes being a founding member of the British Association for Modern Mosaic. Those of us who enjoy mosaic, follow in his footsteps.

“The reason I did all that art and craft work as a teacher with the kids was so that they’d have something they were proud of and could continue in later life. I think everybody is creative – I’ve seen that in church kneelers, altar frontals, patchwork quilts and much more – and I see no difference in quality whether people are paid or not.” (Interview with Manya McMahon, Grout Spring 2013)

As a “lost” art mosaic finds a special place in devotee’s hearts as they rue why such a noble, ancient, colourful, formative, linear and versatile medium is neglected by those who rule the art world and its market. Life is not fair, so we need a better understanding and improve our education!

In addition to being a founder member of the British Association for Modern Mosaic (BAMM) Bob also served for a number of years on the committee of the Association for the Study and Preservation of Roman Mosaics (ASPROM) and has been a member of L’Association Internationale pour l’etude de la Mosaïque Antique (AIEMA) whose conferences he has attended at a variety of venues around the world. He edited the journal ANDAMENTO for the British Association for Modern Mosaic for the first five issues from 2007-2011. This is an amazing feat and eventually will be one of the main reasons that mosaic is taken seriously again by other artists and connoisseurs. In 2010 he was awarded Life Membership of BAMM in recognition of his commitment and work for the society.

A successful author, Robert Field has written six books on geometric patterns which have sold over 100,000 copies world-wide and which are used by many people as a source of creative design in subjects as diverse as embroidery, patio paving, knitwear and quilt making. (From Solo Exhibitions, The World in Fragments 2013).

While driving down to Bob’s picturesque Swanage, other notable beauty spots graced my journey: Christchurch with its Priory, gardens and quayside, Corfe Castle and Durlston Head where on a good day I’m told you can watch dolphins leaping.

Even during Covid-19 lockdown Swanage was bustling with traffic (partly due to road works), so I cast my thoughts over other familiar coastal towns: Margate, Blackpool, Skegness, Morecombe and Hastings for example – all intrinsically paradise, except unlike Swanage, generally cast more down-market, as if deliberately plundered by people wanting to make quick money – shooting themselves and everyone else in the foot. Encumbered by ludicrous golf, abuse arcades, daft dippers, speedy wave slappers and littered with greasy spoon chip and fish frights. Thank goodness Swanage resisted these distractions.

On this whole glorious journey to pick up Bob Field’s library I paid £2 for the car park at Christchurch Priory – what a cheap journey for such indelible visions of beauty, created by generations of our forbearers.

I was delighted to hear that next to Corfe Castle there is a park & ride facility, with a train journey into Swanage. This is the type of initiative we need to rejuvenate our coastal towns, preserving their equilibrium, keeping at bay the hoards in cars and with a fair way of generating local income, that balances our ability to pay, with our use of gorgeous places. To support this effort an automatic congestion charge should be imposed for those who enter a coastal town, severe enough to deter all but the most insistent car visitors (perhaps a £30 charge), with the park & ride well sign posted and attractive enough for people to want to go there. The public transport links should be much improved. Here are some potential benefits:

• Keeping the coastal towns more clear of traffic, except for residents and people with disabilities who should have free access.

• Improving the atmosphere, lessening pollution and aiding better health

• Providing income to upgrade more frequent local transport links

• Encouraging greater use of cycles with a broad cycle route along the streams and rivers to the coast creating green employment

• Extending the café and visitor centre, or expanding the existing one at Corfe Castle - with employment opportunities and decent food where visitors can enjoy the great views in our green and pleasant land.

During the Covid crisis we’re reminded of how billions are being spent on furloughing most people. After the lockdown is lifted, let’s invest in our green economy and create permanent jobs with a better quality of life.

Mosaic will be a catalyst for a better quality of life – thanks Bob for the books.

Mosaic online videos

Working with Hammer and Hardie

Please also watch the other tutorials by Roman Mosaic Workshop as they give further insight into aspects of working with hammer and hardie, such as cutting thick tiles or how to hold your hammer.

Setting and installation

Tools and techniques

Mosaic projects, their making and studios

AN HEART

Contemporary Mosaic exhibition explores 3D Printing

Joe Moss and Jane Davies have collaborated to create an exhibition linking mosaic work with 3-D printing. They model and unite spaces of memory with ancient art forms – the small marble tesserae in the Fallen Angel are at least 50 million years old, and they stand beside work created from a 3-D printer Joe and Jane have used to model a recycle-able heart.

The Fallen Angel has had a bad press – called the devil by many. When all he wanted was a sense of order? This exhibition at the no format Gallery in Deptford brings together framing grid shapes to hold up miniature and larger sculptures, recently printed, as well as art works and photographs.

The artists are seeking patterns of attachment and visual language, a capacity to work together for the common good, bringing craft and art traditions together - in their own words where “various existences and mediums are valued beyond their ability to harvest a price in units”.

Fallen Angel, Joe Moss

Feasibility study for studio development at Ludham Basement

Proposal context

Over the last 6 months we have worked with architects Public Works to develop a feasibility study for bringing back to use derelict garages adjacent to our existing studios. This is supported through the GLA Good Growth Fund allocated for a Stage 1-3 RIBA feasibility study.

The proposed development, which is due to start in spring 2020 will see the space turned into up to 80 artist studios and work-spaces, including space for community-led activities and residents. The users of the space will include community groups that provide services for the local community, including the most marginalised.

Our community faces many challenges, which this project addresses, including:

• High unemployment and/or low mean annual household income;

• High % of residents with no qualifications;

• Many residents are economically inactive due to ill-health and many adults and children depend on the social care system;

• Stark segregation along Mansfield Road between an area with high level of deprivation on the south side, and to the north (Hampstead) with low level of deprivation, leading to stigmatisation of residents in social housing

• Urban blight due to inadequate waste management facilities

Example of use

CAV (Camden Against Violence) and Urban Xtra Radio are looking to lease one of the double garages (24sqm) in order to move the radio station and set up a recording studio in Ludham Undercroft. CAV is very keen to collaborate with local projects and London School of Mosaic. Both organisations have identified that there is a real need to support community focused and volunteer led groups in the area, who are looking to tackle poverty and youth crime in a supportive and pro-active environment. Urban Xtra Radio work diligently within the community to improve opportunities and create pathways for young people within the media industry by providing courses, support and mentoring with a view to creating the stars, influencers and gatekeepers of tomorrow

Set up in 2001, Little Hands Design is a charity focused on providing hands on, fun-packed sessions for children and teenagers, teaching them how to develop a unique dress sense, become responsible consumers, and how to design and make clothes. They have a strong focus on sustainability through re-use, mending and altering to teach about the life cycle of clothes. A strong component of the charity is focused on exploring the links and impact of the fashion world on mental health, body image and selfworth. They rent the space at LSoM every Tuesday and Wednesday, some Saturdays and also days during the school holidays .

Artist studio: expression of interest

If you are interested in the project or want to register to our waiting list for studio spaces please click below:

The Vacuum of Power

The buffoon who holds today’s “top” job, as Prime Minister, has already experienced the strange vacuum of power. How he is on display, with all the mirage levers of power, but as he tries one lever he realises it does not work. Each lever has a series of people attached, and when they don’t agree with him or they ignore what he wants, or they pretend to be working on it – nothing happens!

Even when he pulls a lever and it works and the people do what was asked, it is THEY who exercise the power and he only watches them. Isn’t that why the portraits of Kings and Queens are sulky? It is a vacuum and his hands are tied.

The great hope for today’s top man is bowing out graciously as Prime Minister, when he realises that what he always longed for is just an illusion.

 What Bovine should avoid is breaking the law, being tempted to push the boundary in his direction and feeding his personal greed. His best hope is probably to bring in the Chinese, who can “get the job done” in the least time and for the best price - that is within Bovine Johnson’s weltanschaung.

For therein lies a conundrum of modern liberal democracy. Very few around the Prime Minister will tell the truth, everyone wants to catch his attention, there are so many people pushing and shoving that he never has time to finish something off, before being whisked away for the next farcical foray. He only finds out later in the moments before turning lights out on another sleepless night, when he has minutes to watch the circular flow of media – if what he’s pooped has hit the fan and sends splatter.

The way the tramp across the pond deals with this is by shovelling daily loads of dung onto the fan blade, so the next flying flecks assault you, before you’ve had time to polish the last turd. What a fandango!

 So the world’s most backward liberal democracy: England (not written its constitution yet, although even little charities must do) – England should stop living on borrowed time. The muddling through is no longer acceptable. Kicking the can down the road has passed its usefulness. We can no longer excuse ourselves with the phrase “mother of parliaments”. It’s time to move on.

Let’s face the change: here are some major fault lines that need tackling:

• those who seek power over others are the exact type who should not be allowed near the job.

• How can we encapsulate our responsibilities to family, work, neighbourhood, country, humanity and the Earth?

• What type of system can evolve that allows people to serve, in the interests of greater good?

• Should we use technology and experiment with everyone voting on each major issue? And who would then define the major issues? Perhaps this could be trialled in Liverpool or Sunderland and people paid a basic dividend for their efforts?

Britain was the first country to experience a modern revolution – in the crucible of burning together Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales – the king lost his head and modern limited democracy was born.

Now is the time to consider how best to take a step away from the factional politics of the party system, where cliques arranged things to make life easy for land and property owners, merchants and corporations – the very people who least needed political support. We should have a system that is open, transparent and operates in the public interest, and is not peopled with twits seeking to make history.

 Real power has always lain with the people: the builders, farmers, cleaners and chefs who make the real world go around. Let’s sweep away the buffoons and put them into heritage’s display cabinet – the best place for them alongside Cyrus, Caesar, Cromwell, Napoleon, Stalin, Pol Pot and other irritating war lords of the past. There is only the difference between teeth – those with rotten or false teeth and the others with fangs.

 It is time for “might is right” to move off stage: go and watch the wrestling if you’re bored.