Cats Of Hackney Mosaic
(Click to enlarge)
Taking advantage of yesterday’s spring sunshine, I took an excursion up to Hackney Downs to admire the latest masterpiece produced by designer Tessa Hunkin and the Hackney Mosaic Project. At the pavilion in the park, about a dozen mosaic artists were at work under Tessa’s watchful eye, but I persuaded her to accompany me to the private garden where her new commission has just been installed.
Complementing last year’s ‘Hounds of Hackney Downs,’ this mosaic features some members of the local feline population who stray into the garden where it has been installed. I was thrilled by the dynamic sense of movement with three cats leaping – much more exciting and ambitious concept than simply having them sitting around snoozing. In fact, I think I recognised the ginger cat sitting on the roof of the park keeper’s cottage next door.
If you would like to see more of the remarkable achievements of Hackney Mosaic Project under the leadership of Tess Hunkin, they have designed a map which I have featured below that gives you the locations of their public mosaics.
Is this the ginger cat in the mosaic?
A mosaic of thrushes at the same house
Work in progress at Hackney Mosaic Project
Click to enlarge this map of where mosaics may be found in Hackney
THE HACKNEY MOSAIC PROJECT is seeking commissions, so if you would like a mosaic please get in touch hackneymosaic@gmail.com
You may also like to read about
The Mosaic Makers of Hackney Downs
The Award-Winning Mosaic Makers of Hackney
This work is fabulous! It makes me want to come to London just to see this piece. Well done!
More brilliant mosaic work…
And you are quite right about having the felines leaping rather than having static character portraits like the dogs as there is far less obvious variety in cats. (I think they would find it demeaning to be deliberately bred into weird and extreme shapes and sizes like dogs as they have reached a state of perfection already – apart from the horrible squash faced Persian cats of course!)
And thanks for the map – I will definitely try to see some of the mosaics in the flesh.
Greetings from Boston,
GA, very interesting. I particularly like that last shot of a “work in progress” that gives us a sense of how these pieces may be finished by craftsmen under the eye of the master. Kudos to all involved in the Hackney Mosaic project.
A wonderful sight for the public whilst out walking in Hackney. I hope care is taken to protect it . Nowadays art and beautiful views seems to have become the domain of the wealthy who think they alone have the right of ownership over anything of beauty. Also it is a fitting tribute to the cats of Hackney, one of whom I will always remember . In the bleak post war days of bombed out London an old long haired ginger by the name of Amber who would visit a small child on hot summer days in an overgrown garden in Stoke Newington . Such a clever and affectionate cat should never be forgotten.
Worth the trip from anywhere! (love the map) Thanks so much for updating us about the ongoing work of this group of artisans. Your posts about the mosaics have been some of my favorite EVER.
And that is saying a mouthful. Inspiring and uplifting on a reluctant spring morning here in the Hudson River Valley.
Now……off to feed the cat.
That’s just lovely. It reminds me of the story “The Secret Garden”
A map! Brilliant! While I’m sure there will be many more mosaics installed before I ever get a chance to visit London, I am content with having a map against the possibility I win the lottery and can travel at will instead of planning years in advance. I don’t think the city realizes the artist they have in Tess Hunkin. She is an absolute master.
We’ve commissioned a (small) mosaic from the project for the front of our house in Geffrye Street, featuring frisky urban foxes and Overground trains. We heard about it via your site, for which many thanks. Proud to be contributing to the Hackney mosaic map.