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In 2018 Karen Forde started making mosaic poles for her street from her home. The neighbours and their children loved them and asked to be involved. When the Pandemic hit and everyone had to stay home, her neighbours cleaned out their sheds to keep her supplied with tiles, grout and glue. Local potters gave Karen their failed creations to use as well. All the designs are original and planned in consultation with the neighbours. The local Council, the City of Port Adelaide Enfield, used one of her poles to promote their ‘Paint Ya Pole’ initiative and Karen's street has been featured on the TV program ‘Outdoors Indoors’ in 2020. To date, she has made 52 panels in 6 suburbs and her waiting list keeps growing.
Instagram : @karen.forde
15 Collins Street, Exeter. The former owners of the house nearby asked for a Flower Power design to match their décor.
42 Roberts Street, Birkenhead. The family who lives nearby wanted a pole to celebrate the family of Magpies living in their street.
This Charlton Street, Exeter name pole was made to represent the nearby Port River. Local potter @roustabout art gave me pieces of broken tiles and pottery to use from her studio.
The other side of the Charlton Street name pole represents the sea and the sand. The shells come from a broken pot gifted by a neighbour.
60 Marryat Street, Port Adelaide. This pole features a church-window motif and was created for a friend’s businesses in a renovated historic church – co-able and Confession nightclub.
The Little Friendly Library pole was made to sign post these little libraries made by a local teacher and his students. The libraries are outside another neighbour’s house and she looks after them.
37 Emily Street, Birkenhead. I asked another local potter @nomespotter to draw a design for her pole based on her monster creations. She supplied some of her broken pots for the mosaic.
44 Roberts Street, Birkenhead. Another family in Roberts Street liked the Magpie pole and requested a matching style for their favourite birds, Rainbow Lorikeets.
My own stobie pole is the first one I made for my street. I used a broken China dolls foot and crockery I’d found when digging in the garden of my 1910 house. My neighbours donated floor tiles from their renovations.
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