Angie over at gnomeangel kindly left me a comment about some of her favorite mosaics in Australia. The one above, The Hall of Memory, is at the Australian War Memorial, created by mosaic artist Mervyn Napier Waller over a series of 20 years beginning with the dome in memory of WWI, ending with portraits of soldiers in a WWII Memorial. Waller’s story is very moving, as he was an artist who served in World War I, and after being wounded in battle, had to have his right arm amputated. He learned to draw with his left hand, and went on to study stained glass in Europe and England, and mosaics in Italy.
The second mosaic recommended by gnomeangel is Harold Freedman‘s Legend of Fire Mosaic, Eastern Hill Fire Brigade’s headquarters and museum in Albert Street, East Melbourne. The mural required over a million mosaic tiles, and is 5 floors high. Freedman used his studio as a workshop for young artists, some of whom went on to design their own murals.
gnomeangel’s blog was a delight to discover, with her eye for color, handmade beauty, and good music. She is a woman after my own heart with both Billy Bragg, and The Boom Town Rats. I’m glad she decided to share some mosaics with me!
OMG! Thank you so much for the shout out! I’m so glad you liked them and managed to find some better photos of the AWM’s mosaic. I really love it and I could stand in there for hours and just soak it in. It’s so stunning.
I didn’t know about the artist, it’s so amazing. I’m going to have to go back and look at it again knowing now how truly amazing it is, both on an art level and on a human level. Thank you!
It’s not everyday that someone sends me links to such wonderful mosaics that I never knew about!