About the Community Mosaic

Hired through a Canada-British Columbia Workforce Development Agreement, two Youth Arts Coordinators have planned a public art mosaic composed of 59 wooden blocks that have come together to create a large image that represents Esquimalt. 

We invited the community to take part in the project by decorating their own 8” x 8” square of the mosaic. The blocks where decorated and returned, and assembled into the mosaic.

Levi and Keira started off this project with a classic brainstorm, they came up with an idea focused on community involvement and providing opportunities for art during the times of COVID-19. They began to develop the Community Mosaic, choosing the final image, organizing supplies, and creating a webpage for the project. 

The Youth Arts Coordinators ordered 50+ wooden boards for the mosaic, and got to work tracing the image onto the boards, labelling them, and making instructions, paint by numbers style.  Keira wrote up descriptions for the project, while Levi perfected the website. Early January the sign up sheet went out to the public, and spaces filled up fast. 

The boards were released to the community January 6th, and Esquimalt artists had 10 days to paint, decorate, knit, and embellish their boards according to the instructions and developed colour palette. Once all the boards were returned, they were mounted onto the hanging structure, and placed on display in the window of the Esquimalt Community Arts Hub.