Saturday 28 October 2017

HMS Ajax

The town of Ajax, Ontario, is closely connected to the British Naval cruiser, HMS Ajax, and streets in the town have been named after the officers and men who served on her. You can get the full story here.
The Canada 150 Mosaic project was launched in 2015 beginning a journey to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday by creating mosaics illustration Canada's history and geographical diversity.  The purpose of the project is to create a national mural including all provinces and territories, over 150 individual murals comprised of over 80,000 painted 4"x4" tiles.
Each mosaic from each community is shown on mounted on a set of railway wheels.... no, HMS Ajax wasn't really on wheels.... but this will represent the railways that played such an important role in connecting communities right across this huge country.
This is the mosaic hanging in Ajax Town Hall, created from tiles painted by members of the community. It didn't matter if you have never held a paintbrush before, all ages and skill levels were invited to contribute. The painting of 800 tiles took place in October 2016 and the mural was installed and unveiled in January 2017.





 A couple of my favourite tiles. Not sure exactly where they are on the mosiac. Keep looking closely, you might find them.

The town where I live is also working on a mosaic, and I spent an afternoon at the local Museum painting tiles a couple of weeks ago. I'll be showing more about our town mosaic very soon.

11 comments:

  1. LOVE the community involvement and looking forward to seeing what your town created.

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  2. This is the first I've heard of this neat project. Obviously, our town didn't participate.

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  3. That's wonderful - both the work and the association. I knew ships were 'adopted' by communities, but had no idea that the association could be that close. I remember hearing about the valiant Ajax, Achilles and Exeter at the Battle of the River Plate when I was knee-high to a grasshopper...

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  4. Great project and excellent result!

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  5. I've noticed for some time how creative you Canadians are! Love the mosaic and it's so wonderful that kids of all ages were participants. That "buggy" tile is one of your favorites? They look like the palm tree pests we have to deal with in south Florida!

    Thanks for all your comments. I'll be looking forward to your town's mosaic and your contributions to it!

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  6. It’s a nice way to celebrate the birth of a mother country to make artistic joint-work letting its people be part of it. I like it when people cooperate looking at the same direction for the purpose.

    Thank you for your comment. I agree, language is not a barrier especially for small children to play together. F and her sister Y would feel inspired as they like learning English.

    Yoko

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  7. Great idea, I like it and the performance. Cool. * I am not yet after the surgery. Unfortunately, as I had a phone call from the hospital I had a cold and the surgery could not be done. So I'm waiting again. I'm sorry that you have a surgery on the other hip. I feel sorry and greet.

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  8. A wonderful community project and a beautiful result. The mosaic is absolutely beautiful.

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  9. What a great idea and what a great picture made from all the individual tiles

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  10. This seems like a most interesting project.

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All comments welcome.... unless your name is Anonymous..