After a one year absence, Laurel came back to Aba House to continue the mosaics. They are slowly mushrooming along the back wall.

As part of a 3-dimensional mosaic workshop, she and two Americans and many Ghanaians completed an image of African mythological creatures and next to it a wall of adinkra symbols. Next to this we installed our back gate. Next to this our mosaic crew completed "Respect The Earth", a wonderful shower of flowers.

Perhaps the most thrilling moment came when the children requested wall space to create their own mosaic without any adult help. There is Aba, labeled in case she wasn't recognized, Talk True, Aba House manager, the American flag, the Ghanaian flag, and there's a bird...maybe a duck. Never quite figured out what he represented. We don't ask too many questions because we don't want to inhibit the children's creativity.

This same mosaic crew created a rap song about the mosaic and sang it at our farewell performance wearing their mosaic goggles and using the nippers as a microphone. Just priceless.

Nomination for "Best Mural" in International category for Precita Eyes Mural Center Awards, San Francisco, CA -- Written by Lillian Sizemore

“Spirits and Folklore of Ghana” is the artwork resulting of a 2004 summer workshop designed and facilitated by Laurel True of True Mosaics in Oakland, CA. Her workshop, Community Mosaic Mural Making, was offered at Aba House Cultural Center located in the seaside town of Nungua, in Ghana, West Africa. “Spirits” is one of five community mosaic projects led by True for Aba House, completed over the course of four summers. For the past four years True has self-funded these community projects in Ghana, receiving a few small donations of materials.

The mural imagery deals with local myth, folklore, traditional spirits and their stories. Upon arrival in Ghana, we interviewed and collected stories from local residents and translated the stories into a drawing that would be the basis for the mural. The pictorial mural depicts Mami Wata, the mermaid/fertility spirit of the Ocean; the three-headed Spirit of the River Densu; Christian churches; the 99 spirits of Nungua; Anansi the spider trickster hanging from a lush tree, and Numo Borketey Lawe‹the recognized protector of Nungua ‹with detailed elements of his story such as his footprint enshrined on the rocks, a fish with a special message, and a sacrificial cow.

We brought around 70 pounds of bright glazed tile from the States as well as glass beads and tools. Once in Ghana, we sourced additional local tile, thin set, and grout (filler) in the markets. The local kids gathered shells and pebbles from the beach. Local cement artist, James Ahiave, added relief sculpture to the basic concrete block wall we used as a base for our mural. The Snakes, Sun and Rocks received this sculptural treatment and add a very pleasing three-dimensional effect to the mosaic.

Local community members helped transfer the design to the wall and over 30 participants; youth, adults, artists and non-artists, all helped to set the mosaic. Many of this year's participants had worked with True on the prior community mosaic projects, while many new participants joined for the first time this summer. Some people worked every day, some just stopped by to set a few pieces and were on their way. The community participants ranged in age from 4 - 65 years. The entire process took us about 8 days to complete. The mural1s design reflects the various levels of tile setting skills the group brought to the table: from Byzantine-style square set, to hand-nipped shapes and broken tile fitting, and simple placement of pebbles and shells, the piece truly reflects the hands of it’s makers.

The mural now serves not only as a decorative piece and symbol of cultural identity, but also an educational tool for local youth. These mural workshops have also provided some locals with tile setting skills leading to much-needed employment.

In addition to “Spirits and Folklore”, Laurel True and community members completed two additional mosaic murals with the Nungua community (Respect the Earth and Adinkra Hene), and a small group of boys ages 12-14 initiated and completed a mosaic mural of their own design. It was a productive and art-filled summer!