Atalanta

Willem de Kooning's early charcoal drawing on the left, his later painting on the right. Yet most art schools still act like teaching traditional drawing skills is a creative straight-jacket to be avoided at all costs

@AlexSherston no -I hope they find another location. Plenty of other cafes in the area!

@thinkaboutglue The mosaic workshop based just behind this on Hackney Downs has been at risk of closure so that its premises can be turned into a cafe, Any updates on this potentially tragic loss????

One of the best public art projects I've seen. Grim park shelter turned into glorious roman-style mosaic menagerie, by the Hackney Mosaic Project.

@tjfs @SCP_Hughes talented family!

@thinkaboutglue @SCP_Hughes Sister of Tim Hunkin

@alpervm We can also take advantage of robots giving us more leisure time to make mosaics for fun in our free time - this mosaic was put together almost entirely by volunteers.

mosaics were signs of refinement and elite taste, the ancients viewed public surfaces as opportunities to tell stories and spread beauty then they got abandoned largely due to cost, custom mosaic being $7,000/m² But robotics can fix this?

@SCP_Hughes Yes - Tessa Hunkin is so brilliant at designing these!

@thinkaboutglue Lots of beautiful examples, it seems!

@58mbr We should do a WIP tour of London's best public art!

@thinkaboutglue Wow - so epic

@TSaucybottom And they can be designed by someone really skilled, but then made collaboratively by volunteers, like in this case

@thinkaboutglue They ought to bring back mosaics. They're meant to be seen for a distance, and are perfect for public art.

@ProofingRach @thegentleauthor It's a really beautiful book- and what introduced me to the project

@thinkaboutglue There’s a fab book about the mosaics pub. by Spitalfields Life @thegentleauthor with gorgeous photos of Tessa Hunkin’s collaborative work

Mosaic is a magic wand for attractiveness. Imagine if Eduardo Paolozzi's Tottenham Court Road murals had been done as huge screenprints, rather than in stone.