Discovering Exeter - Community Mosaics

The city of Exeter in Devon, England, has several claims to fame: the earliest Roman mosaic yet found in Britain (55 AD), a mediaeval cathedral and grammar school, and a clutch of major community mosaics created by the President of B.A.M.M., Elaine M. Goodwin, and her Group Five team.

And now you can get to see these notable works even if you aren't able to visit the city itself merely by ordering a copy of Discovering Exeter - Community Mosaics, by Hazel Harvey. It was lucky for Exeter that one of England's finest mosaic artists chose to settle there. Elaine's first community mural was Wall of Play for Cowick Street School, which proved very popular with pupils and parents alike. Then the council invited her to make a mosaic for the Guildhall multi-storey car-park, and one thing led to another… To date Group Five have created fourteen large mosaic murals, mainly using old china donated by interested citizens. The team work direct, starting by drawing sinopie (underdrawings, the same technique the Byzantines used), and then going for it with bits of china plus cement or cement-based adhesive.

The booklet is splendid, with fine photographs of all the mosaics, and detailed accounts of how each came to be. It costs £4.50 plus 50p p&p in Britain, from Mosaics, 4 Devonshire Place, Exeter, Devon EX4 6JA, England. If ordering from abroad please send either sterling or an international money order, and include sufficient surplus to cover the extra cost of postage to your foreign part. The booklet and an envelope weigh just under 100 gm on my kitchen scales.

Paul Bentley, Editor

Price: £4.50 plus 50p p&p in Britain