North+America

= USA =

** WATTS TOWERS - in LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA **

 * Wikipedia Story**
 * which includes links to lots of other similar projects:**
 * [|Antoni Gaudí], a [|Catalan] architect with a similar style, particularly // [|La Sagrada Família] // in [|Barcelona].
 * [|Baldasare Forestiere], another Italian immigrant in California born the same year as Rodia who built the [|Forestiere Underground Gardens].
 * [|Hermit House], a unique residence located in [|Herzliya] , [|Israel] , with intricate mosaics entirely constructed by one man over thirty years.
 * [|Bishop Castle], a massive stone castle hand built by Jim Bishop near [|Rye, Colorado].
 * [|Mystery Castle], a house in [|Phoenix, Arizona] , built in the 1930s in a similar style.
 * [|Nitt Witt Ridge], a house in [|Cambria, California] , constructed in a similar style.
 * [|Rubel Castle], a house in [|Glendora, California] , constructed in a similar style.
 * [|Ferdinand Cheval], a French postman who constructed an "ideal palace" out of rocks in his spare time.
 * [|Rock Garden, Chandigarh], a rock garden built completely out of thrown-away items. The project was secretly initiated by [|Nek Chand].
 * [|Justo Gallego Martínez], a Spaniard who built his own cathedral.
 * [|Edward James], surrealist poet inspired by Rodia. James built Las Pozas in Mexico.
 * [|Valerio Ricetti], an Italian immigrant in Australia who built the [|Hermit's Cave].
 * [|Wharton Esherick], an American sculptor who built the [|Wharton Esherick Studio].
 * [|Coral Castle], a stone artwork and residence built in [|Homestead, Florida].
 * [|Philadelphia's Magic Gardens], an art space occupying three city lots, was created over the span of fourteen years by mosaic artist [|Isaiah Zagar].
 * The [|Heidelberg Project], a street in Detroit where houses have been turned into an outdoor art environment.
 * [|Broken Angel House], a house in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn designed with similar ad hoc construction over 30+ years.

= CANADA =

Colin, my partner, took these photos for me when he was in Vancouver, Canada, in June 07, for the CANIRON blacksmithing conference.
== **THE COMMUNITY WALLS / COMMUNITY VOICES project in east Vancouver demonstrates the way that art and community development work together to achieve complementary goals.****Over 300 community members collaborated with artists to design, create, and install 28 ceramic mosaics, transforming a 170 m retaining wall from a run-down graffiti canvas into a work of public art that reflects east Vancouver's diverse origins and highlights the area's Aboriginal community.** Click [|HERE] to s**ee more information about this wonderful community project.** ==

[[image:community_walls.jpg]]
and here is a link to a post about it from the [|Mosaic Art Source Blog] (thanks Donna)

In the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver is a wonderful contemporary sculpture by =Sally Michener:= = "John, Adam, Alice, Helen and Donna" = for more pictures of this sculpture see this SET on Flickr

... and while still in Vancouver, here is a video about some great pebble mosaics that were installed for the Winter Olympics in 2008
media type="youtube" key="O9VsclQg9bs" height="390" width="640"