Tamworth 250th Mosaic
The Tamworth 250th Mosaic, a project of Arts Council of Tamworth, was created in 2016, Tamworth’s 250th year, by hundreds of children and adults and dozens of tireless volunteers working with mural artist David Fichter, Arts Tamworth director Juno Lamb, and Brett art teacher Melanie McBrian. The project was supported by The Tamworth Foundation, the K. A. Brett School, the Tamworth PTA, the Yeoman’s Fund for the Arts, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, The Other Store, BEAM Construction Associates, Inc., Club Motorsports, and all Arts Tamworth’s donors and sponsors.
Dedications: in memory of Helen and Jim Breasted; in honor of the K. A. Brett teachers; in memory of Joan Ayer Remick Casarotto—artist, storekeeper, gardener, Tamworth historian; in memory of Joan Cave; in honor of Peggy Johnson, Genius of Music, Painting, Poetry and Life; “A Little Help For Our Friends”; Thank you, Tamworth artists, young and younger—you make our lives brighter; in honor of Tamworth Volunteers; in honor of Betsy Thompson and the Rev. William Huntington Thompson; in memory of Arthur Walden and Chinook.
We had an amazing community response to every stage of the mosaic process. Hundreds of kids and adults, helped along the way by many dedicated volunteers, built, mounted and grouted two gorgeous mosaics. Thank you, amazing community, amazing volunteers, and all our donors, sponsors and funders! Watch the slide show and/or scroll down below the slideshow to learn more about who's who and what's what on the mosaic.
Notes on the Tamworth 250th Mosaic
These mosaics were created in 2016, in celebration of Tamworth’s 250th anniversary, by hundreds of kids and adults working together with guidance from mural artist David Fichter. Thousands of community member and volunteer hours went into building, mounting and grouting the mosaics. According to math-based estimates made by Brett middle schoolers of the number of tile pieces in the mosaics, the left-hand mosaic contains 21,536 pieces and the right-hand mosaic contains 22,040, for a total of 43,576. The minority are whole tiles; most have been cut by hand into the shapes you see. Whether that number is exact or not, it’s obvious that the mosaics contain a zillion little bits of glass. Every one of those pieces was placed by a human working side by side with other humans.
At the beginning, we asked the community what they felt should be represented in the mosaic. Dozens of community members send images and ideas, and every kid at Brett drew a picture of something they love in Tamworth. In conversation with us, David skillfully wove many of these drawings and images into the final mosaic design.
Because we couldn’t put everything in the mosaic, think of everything that you see in them as representative of more—animals, activities, people, places; everything has multiple meanings.
Left-hand mosaic—activities, natural world, Tamworth’s five villages:
Both mosaics contain images based on drawings by K. A. Brett students; this one contains many kids’ drawings that David has woven together. The center of the mosaic depicts Mount Chocorua and Chocorua Lake, a view familiar to many the world over—it’s even on a US quarter. The mountain in the top left of the mosaic is Black Snout in South Tamworth, the highest geographical point in Tamworth (also the bear has a black snout…), and some people believe that the composite apple and dairy farm on the top right is way up at the top of Mountain Road. The church on the left of the mosaic is Saint Andrews-in-the-Valley, in Whittier, and above it to the right is the Wonalancet Chapel. The building on the right of the mosaic is The Other Store in an earlier incarnation, and above it to the left is the Bradbury Jewell house, said to be the first timber frame building in Tamworth. We enjoy the outdoor world all year round, collecting maple sap and boiling it into syrup and spotting wild animals in the spring, fishing for rainbow trout, enjoying our lakes and rivers and watching the fireworks on the 4th of July in the summer, harvesting the bounty of our gardens in the autumn, skiing, skating and racing sled dogs in the winter. And that pig? Is he a Tamworth pig? Maybe the famous one who escaped and made it all the way to school one day?
Can you find a four-leaf clover in this mosaic? According to his daughter Melanie, Jimmy Elliot could always find a four-leaf clover in any field they walked in.
Right-hand mosaic—portrait mosaic:
A hive of activity as dedicated volunteers grout one mosaic and mount a second under the tutelage of mural artist David Fichter, captured beautifully by Wyatt Berrier. Just one of many such days on a project supported by extraordinary volunteer efforts and many generous donors, sponsors and funders.