The Real flowers from the St. Brigid Mosaic

I* recently got to  photograph  all the real flowers
behind the magical flowers of the St. Brigid Mosaic



The 4 year old flower



The 5 year old flower



The 6 year old flower



The 7 year old flower



The 8 year old flower



The 9 year old flower



The 10 year old flower



The 11 year old flower



The 12 year old flower

Almost all the flowers in a row

Their drawings have a permanent home  beside the mosaic .

*  Cáit Fahey 

St. Brigid Mosaic : Part 10: Creating the magical flowers

I mentioned the pupil participation element of this project here. 
Every pupil was asked to draw a magical flower and I chose one from each 
age group (4 - 12 ),which I then attempted to replicate as closely as possible in glass .
The following photos detail that process , 
if you wish, you can click on links below the photos to see each one in greater detail


1: ALL THE MAGICAL FLOWER DRAWINGS

 1. The 12 year olds magical flowers, 2. The 11 year olds magical flowers, 3. The 10 year olds magical flowers,
 4. The 9 year olds magical flowers, 5. The 8 year olds magical flowers, 6. The 7 year olds magical flowers,
7. The 6 year olds magical flowers, 8. The 5 year olds magical flowers, 9. The 4 year olds magical flowers

2 :MAKING THE MAGICAL FLOWERS IN GLASS

1. Making the 4 & 5 year old flowers, 2. Making the 6 year old   flower, 3. Making the 7 year old  flower,
4. Making the 8 year old   flower, 5. Making the 9 year old  flower, 6. Making the 10 year old  flower,
7. Making the 11 year old  flower, 8. Making  the 12 year old   flower, 9. the magical flowers wip

3: COMPLEX GLASS CUTS AND SURROUNDING DETAILS

from top, left to right
1. complex glass cuts 1, 2. flower heads in place, 3. the leaves, 
4. my flowers 1, 5. my flowers 2, 6. my flowers 3, 
7. age detail, 8. making the name plaque, 9. sparkling in the sunshine




4: THE PRE-GROUTED FINISHED MAGICAL FLOWERS

from top, left to right
1. finished 4 year old flower, 2. finished 5 year old flower, 3. finished 6 year old flower, 
4. finished 7 year old flower, 5. finished 8 year old flower, 6. finished 9 year old flower,
7. finished 10 year old flower, 8. finished 11 year old flower, 9. finished 12 year old flower




and finally a photo of the finished St. Brigid Mosaic showing the flower detail .

St. Brigid Mosaic : Part 9: Photographs of finished mosaic

The legends  of St.Brigid read  like an amazing fairy tale ,
I was inspired  to create something fantastical for this commission.

All the following quotes are taken from my proposal.....which i detailed here

"The shape of the mosaic is cruciform and mirrors the shape of a St. Brigid’s cross." 

. 

"I have portrayed St. Brigid as life -sized and have placed her to the forefront of the piece , she is standing , arms outstretched ,
 Her stance and expression are welcoming and caring . She is surrounded by a fantastical and extremely colourful landscape.....
...The school’s association with the Liffey Valley is represented in the fantastical landscape that stretches behind St. Brigid."

 St. Brigid  is wearing a beautiful magical cloak  . It’s intricate design 
is a magnificently decorative  and elaborate  patchwork that shimmers and sparkles........'  

 "......and extends out to envelope the floor before her." 

"I have incorporated the many legends and stories associated with St. Brigid within the mosaic." 

" the magical cloak "

"The clasp holding her cloak together denotes her connection to  Smithcraft".

"The tree  is a representation of the oak tree beside which St. Brigid sited her monastery ". 

"The imaginary mythical vegetation surrounding  her represents spring flowers 
and the healing herbalism she is associated with ".  
These flowers replicate exactly the 'magical' flowers drawn by the schoolchildren. 

There is a flower from each age group from 4 to 12   

"St. Brigid was named after the goddess of fire and her glowing/golden  halo 
is  symbolic of this . A ring of golden spring flowers will form a part of the halo motif," 

"Her love of all creatures on earth will be  represented by ‘hidden’ depictions of 
these creatures ,thus adding a playful element to the piece."  


Next post I will try to detail the pupil participation element...
.i.e THE MAGICAL FLOWERS 

photography  by cáit fahey 

( you can see photographs in more detail here )

St. Brigid Mosaic : Part 8: THE INSTALLATION

It took 4 days to install....

 

  

Installed : Ready for it's close up....
Better photos and more details to follow.

St. Brigid Mosaic : Part 7: Work in progress:

Just for continuity purposes these are the last of my work in progress photos .

St. Brigid is happily ensconced now...all will be revealed very VERY soon .

I've turned off the comments on this because I want you to save up all
your commenting energies for the next post....the big reveal...

St. Brigid Mosaic : Part 6: Work in progress: