The Mini Mosaic Mural

To get our feet ‘wet and ready’ for more ambitious and larger murals, the Beaverlodge Mural Foundation dug in with a Mini Mural to test our materials and procedures.

We began with Beaverlodge’s pioneering artist, Euphemia McNaught, and her 1972 original, hand-painted Christmas card as inspiration.

Euphemia McNaught Christmas Card

Beaverlodge artists, Vicki Hotte and Coralie Rycroft, painted the base picture on a 3 x 5-foot sheet of dibond – a coated aluminum composite material.

Then we turned the finished painting over, measured it into 4-inch squares, numbering each one, and cut the beautifully painted picture into 135 squares.

Next, we invited local artists to choose tiles and creatively paint an image of their choice on each piece with instructions not to paint over any of the black outlining.

After all the squares were painted and returned, a backing board was prepared with numbered squares and each tile was glued into position.

The mosaic mural magically began to take shape. Viewed up close one can appreciate each tile as a miniature piece of art on its own. Back up and each square becomes an integrated piece of the whole.

BEFORE AFTER

We’ve tested our materials and technique and now feel fully confident to take our next step – to invite local students to participate in a bigger, bolder and more ambitious mosaic mural project that will depict a chapter in our local story and be installed on the outside wall of one of our town businesses.