Mosaic artist to leave Exeter after 40 years
Elaine M Goodwin, internationally acclaimed and world renowned mosaic artist, is leaving her beloved City of Exeter after some forty years. She is moving to France to establish a larger studio and gallery.
Elaine started her creative path in Exeter in the 1970s where she studied sculpture and photography at Exeter College of Art & Design.
Whilst her developing interest in mosaics took her to exotic global locations such as India, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, it was always to Exeter she returned.
Between 1982 and 1986 she tutored mosaics at Exeter College and during this time she undertook her first large scale outdoor project. Working with nine students using recycled materials, the colourful playground mural at Cowick Street First School was produced.
In 1986 she formed Group 5, a mosaic mural team, to work on public commissions and this early work – some 13 major community mosaics - can be seen around the City in what many would describe as the most unlikely places.
But Elaine and her team transformed these dark alleyways, multi-storey car parks and school playgrounds into bright colourful spaces which include:-
Tin Lane Community Centre, St Thomas
Guildhall Car Park
St Thomas Railway Arch (Pigeon Mural)
John Stocker School, St Thomas (Days of the Week)
Mary Arches Cark Park
King William Street Car Park
Newtown School (Endangered Species)
St David’s Church of England ~school (The Blackboard Mural)
Sidwell Street Passageway
Broadwalk House Car Park
Walter Daw School (Animal Farm/The Reflective Garden)
Southernhay/Post Office Street (City Walls)
St Thomas First School (Mythological Creatures)
Exeter, with its earliest beginnings as a Roman fortress, boasts the earliest figurative mosaic found in the UK. Its homes and public buildings were often richly decorated with mosaics so it is fitting that once again the City’s public buildings are similarly adorned – Elaine M Goodwin’s legacy.
Elaine’s later work was inspired by the shimmering surfaces of light seen in the Byzantine mosaics of the 6th to the 15th century. And anyone who has seen her glittering work during her annual Open Studios event will testify it is equally uplifting and mesmerising.
As a long time admirer of her work and considering her contribution not just to the art of mosaic but to the identity of Exeter, I personally feel the Council should commission Elaine to complete her 40 plus year relationship with the City with a work of art.
Perhaps in the style of her shimmering sculpture, Liquid Gold, which can be seen at Cornwall’s Eden Project, but certainly one which would reflect Exeter’s vision of a growing, modern and exciting City. Sited in one of Exeter’s newest public spaces, it would be a perfect and fitting tribute to a most significant local artist who has brought so much pleasure and enjoyment to the everyday life of those working and living here.
Elaine’s move to France is totally unplanned and spontaneous having fallen in love in August 2015 with a property in Burgundy. Here she will be able to fulfil a dream of a spacious gallery to permanently exhibit her work and to which future Open Studio admirers will still flock.
