Riverside mosaic bench to find new home in town open space to avoid vandalism

The bench, with inlaid mosaic panels, has been created by MosArt, a group of enthusiastic mosaic makers who last year inlaid a pebble design in front of a bench on the Rauceby Banks path near the Electra Club.

They have teamed up with wood worker Peter Tree of Fulbeck to create a bench in the shape of a sycamore leaf to be located on Eastgate Green between the National Centre for Craft and Design and the river.

The bench will be in two halves reversed - ‘like a love seat’ explains Marion Sander of ArtsNK. She said: “It is about three metres, so quite big and has a little raised round table in the middle.

“The mosaic panels in it are inspired by nature and the landscape seen on the riverside path, so there are swans, trees, ducks and wildlife.”

It was originally commissioned to be placed in The Nettles open air arts area on Eastbanks, but after the intial piece was installed it was promptly vandalised. After attempting repairs it was eventually removed to find a safer location less likely to come to harm.

“They have been working on it for one and a half years, so we did not want it to be damaged again,” she said.

The project is funded by ArtsNK and the Town Council and is hoped to be installed by May