The eye-catching ‘Tree of Life’ mosaic at The Mall Wood Green has recently been restored. Originally created by local artist, Hannah Griffiths in 2012, the mosaic needed repairing after suffering some wear and tear.
Fourteen years ago, Hannah worked alongside art teacher, Jeanette Sylvester, Year 8 students from Heartlands High School and Parkside Malvern Residents Association (PMRA) to design the artwork, which can be seen from the corner of Hornsey Park Road and Mayes Road.
“Heartlands was then a relatively new school and the pupils in Year 8 were the first children to start at reception and go all the way through the school,” explains Hannah.
“The mosaic is made from glass and ceramic tesserae, and mirrored tiles which twinkle in the daylight. It’s a very sweet design, really enlivens the space where it’s hung and clearly gives passers-by a lot of joy.”
Keen to restore the mosaic back to its former glory, The Mall Wood Green commissioned Hannah and Jeanette to repair the mosaic. This entailed two days of intense work on a cherry picker, cutting away all the rotten marine plywood base, patching with cement board, filling, sanding, re-tiling areas, re-grouting, and finally re-painting the background.
“It was a real pleasure to undertake the work,” says Hannah. Over the two days we had numerous conversations with local residents and passers-by, who really love the mosaic and appreciated our work. Horns honked almost constantly with shouted comments from cars of ‘it’s looking brilliant’ and a little girl asked, ‘what are you doing to my favourite picture?’”
The duo later returned a couple of weeks later to give it a final coat of paint and restore the smaller plaque, which states that it was made by Heartlands High School Year 8 2011-2012.
Samantha Davidson, General Manager of The Mall Wood Green, commented: “We’re absolutely thrilled with the mosaic, which looks every bit as beautiful as it did when it was installed 14 years ago. Seeing people’s reactions to it has been heartwarming and reminded us just how much it means to our community. Huge thanks to Hannah and Jeanette for their hard work.”
