‘Crockery Mountain’ is a community mosaic made of plates, cups, bowls, saucers, and teapots! It is installed on a wall in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Ireland. This is an environmental artwork featuring thousands of surplus, sentimental and damaged pieces of crockery that that were donated by members of the public.
How big is it? This massive crockery mosaic measure 12.14 metres wide by 4.2 metres high (40 foot by 14 foot). Almost 10,000 individual pieces of crockery are embedded in this artwork including fragments as small as a marble all the way up to large platter plates. All these materials were donated to the project.
How was this public artwork made? It was made by a team of 150 volunteers from the local community. Participants were trained by environmental artist Sean Corcoran at The Art Hand studio through a series of Mosaic Masterclasses. Rapid set external tile adhesive was used to stick all the items to the 244 special frost-proof backing boards. These were produced on the table in our custom built but compact mosaic room. These were later installed like a giant patchwork on the wall.
Where does the name ‘Crockery Mountain’ come from? Back in the 1970’s governments across Europe faced issues dealing with excess supplies of items like butter, milk, wine and beef. Phrases like ‘butter mountains’ described this supply surplus. Similarly today in a consumerist society we see huge excesses in people’s homes. As part of our research for ‘Crockery Mountain’ we discovered that many families have enough crockery for a small restaurant! Our cupboards are over-flowing! Not just with the everyday crockery that we use for our food and drinks but with novelty mugs, decorative plates, pre-loved treasures from our childhood, chipped cups, unwanted teapots and Granny’s old tea set!
About us…The Art Hand is based in Bunmahon at the heart of the Copper Coast in Waterford. Sean and his wife Miranda run a small gallery and workshops from their premises. The Art Hand is a 30 minute drive from the ‘Crockery Mountain’ artwork in Dungarvan. If you’d like to visit the home of ‘Crockery Mountain’ our Eircode is X42 PY92. Please Whattsapp 087 8393332 in advance if you’d like a tour of our facility. Our current projects and workshops appear on The Art Hand Facebook page HERE.
Why mosaic? Why community? Mosaic is one of the most inclusive and rewarding artforms. It’s a very simple process suitable for all ages and ability levels. When a group of people come together to create an artwork like this it instills a sense of ownership across the community. This is environmental art. It is meant to trigger conversations. It is meant to make us question things. Like…why do we have so much stuff? Will the next generation want the items we now treasure? What can we do with damaged crockery? Conversations lead to behavior change. There are many environmental campaigns that focus on things like fast fashion and single use plastics but there hasn’t been any that look at crockery.
We have facilitated dozens of large community mosaics around the country and even as far as Texas! These are creative and fun projects that bring communities together to discuss environmental issues while creating a lasting public artwork.
Every plate has a story to tell! Where is our crockery made? Where did you get it? What is it’s life span? How do you recycle it? Do you have a favourite mug? Do you hoard crockery? Are you sentimental about any of your crockery? We are researching all these questions and more! The social history of the items, the nostalgia, consumerism, design, fashion, trends, aesthetics and life cycle.
Where is ‘Crockery Mountain’ located? We have been gifted the most amazing wall on the outside of Dungarvan Shopping Centre at the entrance to ‘Movies at Dungarvan’ Cinema on Richard A. Walsh Street.
Who is behind this initiative? This project was facilitated by Sean Corcoran of The Art Hand and is the result of the creative climate action initiative Act Waterford, funded by Creative Ireland and managed by Calmast at SETU in partnership with Waterford City and County Council.
Also check out other Arts events in Dungarvan, Entertainment events in Dungarvan.
