How did a 70th birthday present benefit Melrose?
Christina Rasmussen / Special to the Melrose Free Press  The Green Man Community Mosaic was officially installed at Cedar Park on June 12, a community effort highlighting the work of 34 artists from the ages of 8-80 in 58 intricate panels. What started as a 70th birthday gift to herself, Melrose resident and mosaicist Lisa Tiemann wanted to get people together to create art, and gift the finished product to a local site to share it with the community. My love is to make public art with environmental themes, Tiemann said. I love to teach and I love to get folks together and watch them make art. Its magical fun and amazing things happen.  The Green Man is widely considered to originate within hunter-gather and agrarian cultures, in which humans understood themselves to be an integral part of the natural world. In this time of climate crisis and a reawakening recognition of ones dependence as well as their responsibility to other life forms, Tiemann seemed the time was ripe for Melrose to have a Green Man of its own. Starting in 2018, Tiemann facilitated several mosaic workshops out of a large screened-in tent behind her home, where the artists were free to choose the subject of art as long as it was about nature. We had a wonderful time surrounded by the sounds and smells of nature, Tiemann said. The 34 artists are all from diverse backgrounds, and they created plants and animals, both abstract and representational.  Tiemann gathered artists from neighboring communities to assist with the project, including Melrose, Malden, Stoneham, Watertown, Waltham, Cambridge, and even some from New York. A few are accomplished mosaicists, while some had never worked with mosaics before. Some of the creators are accomplished artists and some dont think of themselves as artists at all. But I love that each work bears an individual way of undertaking the challenge and a unique use of the material, Tiemann said. All 58 panels fit together like pieces in a quilt. Like nature, theyre a hodgepodge of life forms, all coming together to create our world.  The mosaic mural features The Green Man in the center, surrounded by panels of scenes depicting various animals, plants, and objects found in nature. Tiemann says that each time you look at it, you can find something new. It was a collaborative effort and as an artist, it was great to be with other artists and to be able to learn from them, Debra Corbett, Melrose resident and abstract painter, said. Mosaics arent my norm, but it was a nice challenge to think outside the box and be a part of this creation.  The project began before the COVID-19 pandemic, which made it impossible for Tiemann to host the final workshop. An early snowstorm also prevented its installation last winter, as did rain and extreme heat during the spring. Fittingly, it was Mother Nature who decided when it would finally all come together, Tiemann said. Tiemann wanted the Green Man in a place where people would see him, so the 5x5 foot mosaic mural was installed at Cedar Park on June 12, with help from John ODonnell, Master Mason, and Melrose city workers. She hopes the children who play in the park will enjoy looking for the animals hidden within the mosaic, and that people who attend the farmers market also enjoy looking at the finished product. Tiemann was able to receive the Messina Grant from the city, which helps Melrose artists and arts organizations finance projects that benefit the Melrose community. She was also able to fundraise and receive donations from other individuals and organizations that went far beyond her expectations. I learned a lot about generosity while creating the Green Man. People enjoy giving, Tiemann said. This is the value of community: we come together and create amazing things, and that in turn inspires even more amazing things to happen. The mason, the carpenter, the various friends and neighbors who worked on this, the city workers who handled special tasks, all gave their best.  The mosaic mural will remain at Cedar Park indefinitely for all Melrosians and neighboring community members to see. I had no idea what the finished product would look like, but I was blown away when I saw it, Corbett said. Yet again another piece of public art in our community, and we should feel very fortunate to have this continuing community art in Melrose.