Maple Ridge Community Mosaic

The Maple Ridge Community Mosaic has been designed to fit in three different locations at the newly renovated Leisure Centre: reception, the gathering area, and beside the pool shower – covering 410 square feet total. The Maple Ridge Community Mosaic celebrates the Leisure Centre as an important social hub.  Following a consistent equilateral grid, the tiles are laid out into hundreds of unique geometric patterns which have been arranged by colour within a rhythm of diagonal bands.  Symbolically, triangles represent the strongest natural shape. Any added force is evenly spread through all three sides and then distributed outward to neighbouring triangles. Like cells and crystals, and individuals within a community, each triangle gains even greater strength when they are organized together with other individuals to form a greater whole.  

The artwork is fabricated from ~14,500 custom-made 2.5” triangular ceramic tiles manufactured locally using recycled glass powder mixed with clay. We developed a palette of twelve custom glaze colours especially for this project based on photographs of the Maple Ridge landscape submitted by Maple Ridge community members.  In February 2019 we gathered approximately 540 unique geometric patterns from additional community members at artist-run workshops conducted throughout the city.   At these workshops, we provided participants with triangular cardboard tiles in the chosen palette of twelve colours, and an equilateral grid to place the tiles onto.  Each pattern created by the public was documented and then over the following months Rebecca and David combined the resulting patterns to create a vibrant representation of the interconnections between people and place in the Maple Ridge community, signifying community, togetherness, and the interdependence of parts within a whole.

The Maple Ridge Community Mosaic is a colourful and complex artwork that creates a unique landmark which can be experienced from many different angles, intuitively locating visitors within the building.  The public artwork was commissioned by the City of Maple Ridge, BC as part of the major renovation to the Maple Ridge Leisure Centre.  The official re-opening of the facility was on 23  February, 2020.