Lifeblood - the Red River Community Mosaic

Lifeblood is a mosaic art installation in the refurbished Donald Thomas Centre in Camborne, now the home of Create CIC making creativity and art accessible for all. It hopes to bring some colour and vibrancy to the toilet areas whilst telling the tale of how the red river has been entwined in Camborne’s rich industrial and cultural heritage.
Comprising of approximately 35m2 wall space, Lifeblood covers from floor to ceiling in a multimedia mosaic encased by tiling incorporating community made ceramic tiles and handmade mosaic ‘buttons’. The installation has taken 6 months around ongoing renovation works.
The individual handmade glass tiles flow across the walls, literally springing up at Bolenowe represented by a trio of mirrors in a Celtic triskele.

The river winds its way along, telling a stylised version of its battle between nature and industrialisation, ending at Gwithian lighthouse as it flows into the sea. The industrial heritage is celebrated by reference to the local employers of Bickford’s and Holman’s. Glass discs embossed with images of a bygone era including the Gold medal won at the Paris Expo of 1900 are interspersed with ceramics cogs and rooftop tiles infused with glass.
Along the banks of the river a montage of ceramics and glass tiles shows the engineering detritus in juxtaposition to the flowers and fauna, whilst hiding amongst it are dragonflies, birds and bees that can be found if you look hard enough.
Round ceramic tiles depict the periodic table elements of the minerals found within the area. Follow the seams entwined around them and you will end up at their atomic number.
Two trees are prominent. The first representing the diaspora of the mining industry, shows the names of the mining roles in its roots whilst tin flows in silver glass tiles up its bark, fading out to leaf’s stamped with the international standards organizational 3 letter codes for the countries that the miners departed to. The second tree celebrates the names of mines, shafts, places, and colloquialisms of the local area.
Where possible the installation has taken care to recycle glass in the making of tiles, reuse old crockery sourced from local charity shops and repurpose left over tiles from home D.I.Y. projects as well as a little skip diving at tile manufacturers saving many from landfill. There’s also the odd piece of jewellery and even a thousand-year-old fossil (or older?) included. In linking the past to the present the 2 large mirrors have been saved from the previous toilets and reused to nestle amongst the mosaic continually providing a useful function.

All ceramics and glass tile specifically made for the mosaic were done at the Create Centre.