By Allan Forget

In 2004-05 the foyer of the Galiano Community Hall was refurbished, a project of then Galiano Club President, Sue Evans. Part of this improvement involved asking Janice Oakley, an island artist who had been leading ceramic mosaic workshops for several years, to create an art piece for display in this public space.

Janice accepted the commission and assembled a group of interested past workshop participants which included Shera Street, Deblekha Guin, Laurene Stefanyk, Hugette Benger, Kip Johl, Jean Way, Chris Gaylor, Kate Sherry, Nancy McPhee, Jean Jones. These members easily decided that the mosaic should include the island elements of sea, sky, arbutus and foxglove.

Visual artist Shera Street drew an initial design on paper which was then transferred to two pieces of plywood measuring, in total, roughly 3m x 2m.

All of the Galiano potters were asked to contribute ceramic “seconds” for use in the artwork, and a container was placed in the Hall entranceway for the public to donate pieces of broken pottery. An amazing assortment of ceramic pieces was collected containing many colours, shapes and sizes.

The plywood board and pottery pieces were then gathered together at Janice’s home on Georgeson Bay Road where assembly work began outdoors and under cover.

The assembly was truly a collaborative effort with no one individual deciding on colour or placement. Small areas were left blank for later use as points for attaching the board to the foyer wall; these were covered over & marked after the mosaic was installed.

The mosaic was placed on a Hall foyer wall in May, 2005, with spot lights later installed nearby by Eric Nelson. The mosaic has been much admired and enjoyed by Hall users and visitors ever since.

A small brass plaque nearby records:

Presented to
The Galiano Club 2005
Galiano Mosaic Collective.