Artist Steph Roberts has been working with people to create mosaics which respond to the patterns on the pavements, bridges, roofs and the walls of Maindee. On the evening of Thursday 15 September you are invited to come along to Maindee Library and find out how these mosaics tell stories. 

Celebrating Maindee Mosaics on September 15

The evening starts at 6.30pm so bring a bottle and a friend along to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere with the participants of the project.

Steph came to us with the idea as a New Paths grant. She started in late spring of 2016 with regular Thursday workshops in Maindee Library.

Steph initially inspired people by taking the group around the streets of Maindee. People were able to admire the explosion of mosaics on shop thresholds from the 1960s: one of the most decorative from this period is at Cayzers Menswear on Chepstow Road and it is here that some of the work will be displayed this autumn.

We are pleased that a celebrated local shop will display the mosaics, but Steph explains that the project has very much been about the everyday shapes and patterns found on Chepstow Road and around:

‘When a group stop and spend time in a space, like sitting on a wall or a bench, they start to talk about stories and start to notice regular patterns and shapes. For example, we saw that squares and circles kept on coming up. Some of the group used this is inspiration for their work.’

The pieces have been motivated by double yellow lines on the streets [such as in the image below], by the patterns of bricks on walls and the seemingly-random shapes sometimes created in architecture. People have enjoyed getting together and sharing their stories and observations.

As the workshop sessions developed Steph saw the group come together and allow people to follow their own creative directions with further projects outside of the workshops:  it is in this spirit that we will have a celebration from 6.30pm on Thursday 15September. 

We hope you can come!

Stephanie Roberts website