The mosaic maker

Amanda Anderson uses stained glassBuntglasstained glass and tileFliese, Kacheltiles to make colourful mosaics of birds and other creatures. “I use a mixture of ceramic tiles and potteryKeramik-pottery pieces I find, and stained glass, because I really like colour,” Anderson told Spotlight. “I just buy regular tiles, and I’m always looking out for bits of pottery with designs that I like. Sometimes it’s vintagealtmodisch, klassischvintage pottery and sometimes it’s contemporary.” She sticks the pieces of the mosaic on to plywoodSperrholz, Furnierplatteplywood and then uses black groutMörtel, Fugenkittgrout to make the colours even brighter.

I’m always looking out for bits of pottery with designs that I like.

Amanda studied fine artsbildende Kunstfine arts at Liverpool’s John Moores University, where she specialized in sculpture. After working for an art gallery, she and a friend started their own business in the late 1980s. The two women began doing community art workshops at a psychiatric hospital in Birmingham. Inspired by the work of Spanish artist Antoni Gaudí, especially his Park Güell in Barcelona, the two friends thought they would try to translate some of the residentBewohner(in)residents’ paintings into mosaics for the hospital garden. “When I started, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just picked up things as I went along,” Anderson explained. Her background in sculpture gave her an understanding of the materials, though. Using a grantUnterstützung, Zuschussgrant from the Arts Council, the friends were able to make lots of mosaics for the garden. People took notice of the work, and Anderson was commissioned to do more.

Now she works mainly on her own designs, but she still accepts commissions. At the moment, she is creating five mosaic birds to to commemorategedenkencommemorate the children who died in the Grenfell Tower fire in London on 14 June 2017. The birds were to commissionbeauftragencommissioned by a centre that a lot of the children visited. “All the birds are flying, with a green heart in their beakSchnabelbeaks. The green heart is the symbol for Grenfell,” says Anderson.