DODDISCOMBSLEIGH PRIMARY SCHOOL - MOSAIC

Over the summer, and part-funded by The Helen Foundation, Doddi undertook a highly ambitious mosaic project led by artist Monica Shanta. Mrs Davies, Head at Doddi, wrote:

“The journey began with gathering ideas from pupils, staff, and the wider community. These inspirations were brought to life in a stunning mosaic that celebrates the identity and heritage of Doddiscombsleigh.

At the centre of the mosaic stands the school tree - a long-standing willow oak that symbolises resilience. The tree and its acorns represent our class names, and it is surrounded by the handprints of the pupils. These hands symbolise kindness and care, and some include tiny jasper hearts—representing love and respect. Reaching upwards towards the stars, they embody the aspirations of our children and reflect the values and ethos at the heart of Doddiscombsleigh Primary School.“

This highly complex mosaic is full of other symbols of local life, such as farming and mining.  It really is something to be seen!  Really well done, everyone!

The children said afterwards:

“Last week we all helped to make a mosaic to go on the outside wall of the school. Monica Shanta - the artist - came to our school to teach us.” 

“I enjoyed smashing up the tiles with a hammer and then pushing down the pieces. The funnest part was hearing the squeaky squelch sounds when we pushed the pieces into the cement.”

“I learned a lot about mosaics from Monica, how to match the colours and put one colour against another to make the colours pop.” 

“It is probably the most fun art I’ve ever done, and Monica was very good at explaining and helping. The results of everything so far are amazing: I’d say it was really calming doing mosaic work, and we’d love to do more things like it. “