My date with a bird in Hackney

But my wife understands...

Last year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition was a bit of a curate’s egg as far as I am concerned. So many galleries packed with hundreds of entries, some of them stunning, yet in the main I found it mostly underwhelming.

Just as I was almost leaving, in the lobby area near to the exit, I finally spotted something really striking and unusual. Not a painting or a sculpture, or even those fascinating architectural models which enjoy a packed salon to themselves every year. Hanging high on a wall was a colourful and jaunty mosaic panel with the caption SOME HACKNEY BIRDS.

It was a striking piece of work and I immediately decided to buy it. It wasn’t cheap, but it was priced far below the majority of exhibits. A sensible, achievable four figure price. Best of all - no little red sticker, which marks the items already sold. And I was intrigued by the creator’s name in the catalogue - the Hackney Mosaic Project.

At the sales desk, though, they had depressing news. “It’s sold!” Apparently only moments before somebody else had the same idea. This was a bigger let-down than the Summer Exhibition itself.

Not to be defeated and with a little help from Google, I tracked down the creators of the mosaic and their leader, Tessa Hunkin. Would they re-create the original work, or something very like it? Well, this had been a major project for Hackney, said Tessa and she was reluctant to repeat it, but she would consider something a little smaller and less elaborate. Maybe not NINE individual birds - was there one in particular I would like to choose for a mosaic of my own?

The sign on the door tells it all

I really liked the Herring Gull - a bird which doesn’t score highly with bird-spotters, who are looking for the unusual rather than the ubiquitous. I always lean towards the outsiders in life, rather than the posh and the preening, so that’s what Tessa and I settled on for my one-off mosaic.

That was last summer, right after the RA exhibition and I was keen to get my hands of my prize. But, Tessa warned me, mosaic work is slow and exacting and Hackney works entirely on volunteers who attend on up to three days a week for just an hour or two, so progress is a bit unpredictable and intermittent. I’d have to wait a while.

In the end I’d almost forgotten the mosaic when Tessa contacted me last month to say the work was ready.

In the meantime I had done a little cursory research into the Project, but nothing prepared me for what I discovered when I turned up at their studios - an anonymous sixties building in Hackney Downs park. The Project volunteers and their leader have made Hackney a centre of mosaic excellence. Their work is everywhere in the Borough - why had I not heard of these people before? Just in case you haven’t either, here’s why you should go along and look.

Man’s (and woman’s) best friend, commemorated in mosaic. Apparently dog portraits are the most popular commissions and in the adjoining park many local dogs have mosaic memorials.

Back in 2012 Tessa and her volunteer helpers were funded as part of the community benefits which span out of the London Olympics. She said a while ago in a newspaper interview: “We’ve made a little bit of Carthage here in Hoxton. I was inspired by the Roman mosaics of North Africa. I’ve been making mosaics for twenty-five years and I started working with people with mental health problems. I like working with groups of people on large compositions that they can be proud of. This project was going to be for six months but, when we came to end of the first mosaic nobody wanted our workshop, so we just carried on.”

Things have been sticky at times and the Project has had different names and different groups of volunteers, but Tessa has kept the flame burning. Now - under the name Hackney Mosaic Project - they have a bright studio and display space in Hackney Downs. The Project has become a much-loved local fixture. Nearby, in the Downs park, there is a spectacular mosaic project which the group completed some years ago.

Currently it’s closed off while a major refurbishment of the local playground takes place, but soon visitors will be able to see it close up once again.

A Roman Maiden, with a mobile phone.

There are plenty of other mosaics to see around Hackney, too. There is a trail mapping the way to 14 sites, large and small. (Leaflets with a map and explanation of each one are available at the Project). Oldest and maybe the most impressive is the Shepherdess Walk mosaic garden, just off City Road. This was part of the Olympic project and there are several major works set into walls around a small square. I haven’t had a chance to see them yet but I’ve found several photographs. The designs are based around ancient mosaics with some modern touches. Do go - and see if you can spot the Roman maiden with a mobile phone and the Roman gardener with leaf blower and headphones!

When I collected my finished artwork, Tessa showed me around their studios and informal exhibition of work for sale. She has created something very akin to an atelier, where a master artist would lead a group of trainees. Often the outline design will be Tessa’s work, particularly if it is a specific commission. Then the volunteers - who give maybe a couple of hours at a time - create the mosaic. It’s painstaking stuff, finding the right coloured tiles and then trimming them to follow the blueprint.

The work begins - the mosaics start with a sketched design, often by Tessa

I am extremely pleased with our Herring Gull and we’re working out where to hang it. Obviously mosaics are heavy and the wall I originally thought it would suit might not take the weight. The finished job is almost 100 cm wide by 85 deep and weighs 15 lbs.

However, we’re lucky to have a little seaside bolt-hole and it has a balcony overlooking the English Channel. Mosaics are, by their nature, pretty weather-resistant. The Hackney installations are still bright and sparkling after more than a decade, so I reckon if they can survive the Pompeii eruption, they can cope with some salty, seaside air.

Gulls are a bit of a menace down there - but this one will be very welcome. He has a rather truculent air about him and whichever volunteer crafted him, they found a lovely bright yellow stone to give him a gimlet eye, which stares straight at the viewer. He seems to know that of all the fancy feathered birds of Hackney, he was always going to be my pick of the flock.

If my post pleases you, why not consider re-stacking it? That would be a great favour.

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FANCY YOUR OWN MOSAIC? The Project undertakes commissions and also has a good display of ready-made work at their base in Hackney Downs. They also have an Etsy shop. Contact Tessa at: hackneymosaic@gmail.com or call 07530-696560

If you wonder what I really thought of last year’s RA Summer Exhibition, here’s my original post :-

"Gasping death-rattle of mediocrity..." - by Peter Harkness