Legacy mosaics – 9 years later

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Mary C

ANZAC Centenary, Legacy Street Art Project

This post updates one from January 2016 (Legacy Mosaics)

Legacy is a charity that supports widows, children, and disable dependents of Australia’s injured or deceased military veterans. Drewery Lane in downtown Melbourne runs behind Legacy House. Over the four year Centenary of ANZAC period (2014 – 2018), held workshops that allowed the local community to interact and engage with the personal and shared histories of the Legacy Family. Workshop participants created clay tiles and plaques with some connection to WW1. The plan is to attach 1000 of these mosaic pieces to the back of Legacy House. In November 2015, the first tiles were installed.

A few comparison photos (more added since January 2016, and the majority are in good condition):

2016:

white square tile with the word legacy and a picture of three people, attached to an exterior wall with numerous small clay pieces around it.

2025:

Legacy project, adding clay tiles to a wall, each with an image on it
2016
many clay pieces, a sword,an anchor, some with words, attached to a wall, part of a Legacy project for ANZAC commemoration
2025
Legacy ceramic tile mosaic project

2016:
many clay pieces, a hand, some with words, attached to a wall, part of a Legacy project for ANZAC commemoration

2025:

And a few more views from 2025 –

below: Sir Stanley Savige (1890-1954), founder of Legacy, shown in mosaic.

legacy founder portrait in mosaic added to legacy wall of ceramic tiles, to commemorate ANZAC

below: A small green helicopter joins the group.

Legacy ceramics, plus a green helicopter

below: Invader mosaics, a green tank, and a couple of hearts.

invader mosaics plus legacy ceramics in drewery lane,

wall behind Legacy House decorated with ceramic tiles that have been made by legacy participants

below: Another mosaic portrait is on the wall – this is General Sir John Monash (1865-1931). He was commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt, one of the many Australian and New Zealand groups that were involved in the Gallipoli campaign of April 1915 to January 1916.

legacy ceramics wall, along with portrait of

below: Some words: “My dad, he lived on Drewery Lane and Lt Lon. (Little Lonsdale) and loved the restaurants and shops and markets of Melbourne”

Other words: “My grandfather, Lieutenant Michael Harold Sorokiewitch, Southwick MBBS (RAMC) (1893-1957) Melbourne. Surgeon at Gallipoli and Lemnos (1915-1916) then served in military hospitals in Britain” Adele

close up of some of the ceramic pieces created for the legacy wall

a section of the legacy wall

state sanctioned

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Mary C

In the city of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, modern white residential buildings line a wide road, Ataturk Street; many of the buildings have murals on the side. These aren’t street art paintings and they were probably part of the design of the building. Still, it is art and they do add some vibrancy to the neighbourhood.

murals, pictures, on the side of two residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan

murals, pictures, on the side of residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan

murals, pictures, on the side of residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan, tree patterns

murals, pictures, on the side of residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan, cherries and grapes on a plate

murals, pictures, on the side of residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan, abstract patterns

murals, pictures, on the side of residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan, based on traditionsl carpet patterns

murals, pictures, on the side of residential apartment buildings made of white marble, in ashgabat turkmenistan

Photos taken October 2024

East Harlem mosaics

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Mary C

I saw mosaics in two places, both close to the same corner – Lexington and East 104th.

The first set can be seen under the windows of what is now Exotic Fragrances Inc. – radiating Be Barrio Love and yo chicken.

mosaic images under a window of a store, be barrio love and a chicken, with word yo

part of a mosaic picture under a window of a store, little medallions with images in them, a woman, a man, a drum, a cactus, a ladder, a palm tree, a frog, a mandolin or guitar, and a water jug.

below: “This our home land here now” with a cheerful and accepting rainbow “everyone welcome”.

below: Shelves of fancy decorated perfume bottles looking lovely in the window, an interesting accompaniment to the “I got you” mosaic below it.

Around the corner, a whole mural made of little tiles. A picture of an elephant, a snail, and a lot of white doves circling the Earth. A row of brightly coloured tenement buildings anchors the picture. It was commissioned by Hope Community Inc. and was constructed by artist Manny Vega., The mural is titled ‘Al Ritmo de La Paz’ (To the Rhythm of Peace) and it is on East 104th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue,

5 four story apartment buildings in bright colours with different coloured windows

Photos taken July 2024

Spirit of Harlem

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Mary C

Near 125th subway station (A/B/C) there is a mosaic mural. Original artwork done by Louis Del Sarte and made into a mosaics by Franz Mayer of Munich, 2005. After it was vandalized, it was restored in 2018. It’s a lively scene with musicians and dancers enjoying themselves. Vibrant. Alive.

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, musicians, drummers, bass players, and women dancing

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, brass band, women dancing

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, man in hat watching musicians

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, woman floating above dance floor,

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, black woman dancing and floating

spirit of harlem mosaic mural in new york city, woman with a shiny blue necklace

below: The corner of 125th (also Martin Luther King Blvd) and Frederick Douglas Blvd.

portraits on Rue Lambert

Posted on June 18, 2022 by Mary C

First, there was this small portrait by Morèje, aka Jérôme Gulon. His street art pieces have mosaic frames made from tiny multicoloured tiles. Back in 2015, he made a series of portraits to honour the people who died in the Charlie Hebdo shooting. These can be seen in a blog post from 2016.

small hand drawn portrait of a young man surrounded by a frame made of many small tiles in different colours

The rest of the portraits on Rue Lambert are part of Rue Meurt D’Art, projects by Jean-Marc Paumier including these; the one on the left strongly resembles the man in the above portrait.

two portraits, with text, on a wall on rue Lambert in Paris, one male and one female, both by Jean Marc Paumier

below: “voyer quelle aurore se leve, un souffle et tout est efface” [see what dawn is rising, one breath and everything is erased”]

portrait of a woman, exterior, collage, street art

below: “Le poete est un voleur de feu” [The poet is a thief of fire]

portrait of a young man on a Paris street

below: “Revons c’est l’heure” [Let’s see it again].

portrait of a man with mustache and bushy beard, black ascot tie and blue jacket, street art, with text, rue meurte d'art

below: “Prenons donc notre place sans la mendier ” [let’s take our place without begging]

portrait of a man, exterior, street art,

below: “L’art est le plus beau des mensonges” [Art is the most beautiful of lies]

Translations were done using Google Translate, therefore there may be errors.
Photos taken June 2022.

J-DEF Peace Project, mosaic, Pilsen

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Mary C

Near the 18th Street CTA stop on the pink line, and in the Pilsen area of Chicago, is a mosaic mural by the J-DEF Peace Project.

purple background, mosaic mural, words that say J DEF peace project

mosaic mural outside on a wall at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, an arm raised with a fist along with the words paz, talk to your neighbors

part of a mural at 18th and Paulina in Pilsen area of Chicago, by J-DEF peace project, a portrait of Jeff Maldonado Jr. for whom the project is named after, as well as a picture with the theme of create safe places away from gun violence

The J-DEF Peace Project by the parents of Jeff Maldonado who was shot a day after his 19th birthday. It is a program that works towards ending gun violence among Chicago’s youth. They have made a safe place for young people to come together to participate in art projects and other programs.

moasaic mural of tiles with words create safe places. A picture of a body outline on the ground with three red hearts, also shadows of two people with long hair on swings. A man plays a drum with the words Rudy Avina

below: A tribute to Ana Mateo, Francisco Mendoza, and Javier Merino.
Pilsen wall of honor part of mosaic mural, pictures and names of three people, young girl Ana Mateo, and two men, Francisco Mendoza and Javier Merino.

below: Police officer Brian Strouse is also on the Wall of Honor.

mosaic tribute to policeman, Brian Strouse, along with the words we need to work hard to make the world better

The words under the four portraits say:
“We need to work hard to make the world better
Stop killin’ each other, start comin’ together
But the things you want in life like the cars and the bling
Got you blinded by the fact that its only a dream.”

below: The end of the mural, “make smart choices”.

part of a mosaic mural, J DEF peace project, back of a car, with words make smart choices

Fishers Lane, Fitzroy

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Mary C

Photos taken of the graffiti and street art in Fishers Lane back in February.

below: Welcome to Bali, vol II by BMD, being drawn with a pencil, and it comes complete with a pink earthworm crawling through the mural and the building.

muralby BMD on the upper level of a red brick building. Cigarette box shaped box, front is green with a picture of an little island with one little palm tree and a large earthworm coming out of the sand. a large pencil is seen drawing the picture

below: Garfield gets in on the act too. He’s writing on the walls “Nothing but Trouble”

street art mural of Garfield the Cat holding a marker and writing on the wall, Nothing but Trouble

below: A mural by Drew Funk, Deb and Monkey the roller derby women.

a mural showing two women ready for roller derb

below: Part of the alley, with another mural by Drew Funk in the foreground.

view of a lane with graffiti and street art on both sides

below: Even though this paste up is fraying at the edge, it still looks interesting. The interaction of two people in blank masks.

fraying paste up (large) of two people in blank masks. One is seated. The other is reaching out to him or her, on a brick wall in an alley

below: Four square pieces of wood, each with an insect – or at least I assume that the one on the left once had an insect on it. The mosaic piece looks like something invader would make, but as far as I know he hasn’t been in Melbourne. It may also be a character from a video game?

four square pieces of wood mounted on a wall, each with a picture of an insect. Above it is a creature, walking on two legs, made of black and blue mosaic tiles

below: Paste up, a woman in profile, on the open hand of a woman – herself?

small black and white paste up of an open hand holding a round shape with a woman's head in profile in it.

below: A suited man with a bird in a birdcage instead of a head, at the rear of 285 Brunswick. It is signed javer.

paper pasteup of a black and white drawing of a man's torso with a birdcage instead of a head. One black bird in the cage. It's on a door with lots of scribbles graffiti and a sign that says 285

below: Two more javer pasteups. Another man with a replaced head as well as a misfit woman.

2 paste ups on a boarded up space on a wall. One is a person with a black t shirt with the word Misfits on it. The other is a man sitting on a stool but instead of a head he has the speaker part of an old gramophone

below: One more javer paste-up. This time it’s all about water, water falling from the sky and small puddles below. The words written on the background paper are definitions of scientific terms dealing with liquids, terms such as dew point and absolute humidity.

paste up of a black silhouette of a man holding an umbrella and walking through large rain drops.

below: A bird by Sugar, a street artist who likes to paint murals of animals.

mural of a large bird head, light grey head, blue and black beak, brown body feathers, sign by sugar, on a white wall in an alley

below: At first I thought the title of this piece is Lost the Plot, but that’s actually the moniker used by the artist who painted this.

street art in teals and magenta, with words written small in the corner 'Lost the Plot' signature seems to be NCWB

below: Unfortunately I can’t figure out who the artist is for this one.
a large text street art piece in black, white and red, on a fence,

below: He looks at the world through a different set of lenses.

graffiti and street art on a wall, some scrawls and scribbles but also one man's face, wearing glasses with red and white concentric circles instead of lenses

below: This sad looking girl was hiding in a very narrow space.

paste up of a black drawing on white, a girls head with very long hair looks over the top of a group of high rise buildings, cloud ans round sun behind her

below: A little hummingbird hovering on the wall.

a stencil in teal and black of a hummingbird hovering

below: Another view of the lane.

the backs of buildings in a lane. An old wood fence, with a tree behind it. A taller white building among some shorter buildings. sunny day, blue sky, Melbourne Australia.

below: Babushka dolls paste up

2 large paper paste ups of babushka doll shaped women. One with eyes open and smiling and the other with eyes closed.

honouring Charlie Hebdo

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Mary C

On a wall on rue Gaby Sylvia in the 11th arrd. of Paris, there are five small portraits of men who died in the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, 7 January 2015.

below: Stephane Charbonnier, editor

small portrait of a man on a wall. Hand drawn head and shoulder shot, framed with tiny pieces of mosaic tile - Charb

below: Five portraits on a wall, by Moreje aka Jerome Gulon

On a light brown stucco wall, sign for rue Gaby Sylvia, as well as 5 small portraits frames in tiny mosiac tiles

below: Bernard Verlhac ‘Tignous’, cartoonist

small portrait of a man on a wall. Hand drawn head and shoulder shot, framed with tiny pieces of mosaic tile - Tingous

below: Jean Cabut, cartoonist

small portrait of a man on a wall. Hand drawn head and shoulder shot, framed with tiny pieces of mosaic tile - Cabo

below: Philippe Honore, cartoonist

small portrait of a man on a wall. Hand drawn head and shoulder shot, framed with tiny pieces of mosaic tile - Honore

below: Georges Wollinksi, cartoonist

small portrait of a man on a wall. Hand drawn head and shoulder shot, framed with tiny pieces of mosaic tile - Wollinski

Legacy mosaics

Posted on January 29, 2016 by Mary C

ANZAC Centenary, Legacy Street Art Project

Legacy is a charity that supports widows, children, and disable dependents of Australia’s injured or deceased military veterans. Drewery Lane in downtown Melbourne runs behind Legacy House. Over the four year Centenary of ANZAC period (2014 – 2018), Legacy plans to hold workshops that will allow the local community to interact and engage with the personal and shared histories of the Legacy Family. Workshop participants will create clay tiles and plaques with some connection to WW1. The plan is to attach 1000 of these mosaic pieces to the back of Legacy House. In November 2015, the first tiles were installed.

white square tile with the word legacy and a picture of three people, attached to an exterior wall with numerous small clay pieces around it.

many clay pieces, a sword,an anchor, some with words, attached to a wall, part of a Legacy project for ANZAC commemoration

many clay pieces, a hand, some with words, attached to a wall, part of a Legacy project for ANZAC commemoration

clay pieces on a red brick wall in an alley all clustered together to form a mosaic

Eyes on the Streets

and feets on the ground. Graffiti, street art and murals seen while wandering the streets and alleys of our colourful world.

Tag Archives: mosaic