Mural to Mosaic Project - Update
February 2009
Hi AllYou might remember a few newsletters back (http://triskill-projects.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html) we focused on an on-going project that Triskill are involved in - The Bray Mural to Mosaic Project. We are replacing each panel of the existing mural in Bray station with a copy in porcelain tile mosaic. The mural was originally designed and painted by Triskill partners John and Jay in 1987(!) but the paintwork had gone into serious disrepair - with Anthony now on board we are on our way to replacing it all with mosaic. There are 19 panels in total and we are gradually working our way through them. It's quite a laborious task but a great challenge and has received brilliant feedback so far. Eleven of the nineteen panels have been sponsored by a company or individual so there are still opportunities for those interested to contribute something to financing the work. Each contributor gets a plaque dedicated to them or their company positioned over a panel of their choice.
Our most recent visit to the station was to install our latest piece; a portrait of William Dargan - Father of the Irish Railway's. He was instrumental in bringing the railway line to Bray and further south to Wicklow, so he was an important man to the area. He has a panel to himself in the original mural and our job last week was to replace the painted portrait with the new mosaic version.
The first stage was to lay down our adhesive base over the original painting having sanded and sealed the surface. It's always a bit upsetting to see the original artwork disappear but so it goes. Interestingly enough the original portrait was painted by Chris Judge (from our design), now one of Ireland's foremost illustrators (see his blog link at the end of the page). Chris helped us all those years ago when we did a number of repairs to the mural - so, apologies Chris for the erasure!
Anyhow, once the adhesive was on, it was straight into fixing the lower section of the portrait to the wall. The mosaic tiles are held together with a clear vinyl contact sheet but this stage can be precarious as we can lose tiles easily and it's hard to go back and re-cut them. But as you can see the work is in good hands...
The next stage is the trickiest - the top part needs to link perfectly with the bottom section or else it can leave an obvious join so great care is needed in positioning the mosaic. Again we are at great pains to avoid tile loss but thankfully registration was perfect on this one.
Finally, the mosaic is patted down to make sure all the tiles have contact with the adhesive and we will leave it a few days to set before grouting. Eventually the frame will also be finished in mosaic and a plaque installed giving Dargan's historical dates.
More updates on this project soon or if you are in Bray station keep an eye out for the mosaics. Special thanks as well to George and Eileen Kelly who have generously sponsored the Dargan panel.
Check out Chris's blog at chrisjudgeillustration.blogspot.com
