Local Sculptor Donates Mosaic for Pardon Gray Preserve

Mosaic by Eduardo Rodrigues, click for larger view

Eduardo Rodriguez honored the heritage of the Pardon Gray Preserve by donating his time and artistic talent to creating a stunning wood-fired ceramic mosaic. On September 3, 2006, he and friends mounted the mosaic on the south wall of the kiosk at Pardon Gray. It is an artful rendering of the Preserve and its adjacent protected and public lands. A compass rose orients north. Small local animal tracks are on the left of the mosaic. On the right are larger farm animal tracks and human footprints – all part of the land’s history. Eduardo is currently working on the border which will tie his composition together. He is greatly indebted to his good friend Mika Seeger for her generosity, her help and the use of some of her studio space.

Eduardo has lived and worked in Tiverton for 13 years. He and his wife, Susan, have been very involved in community projects. Their two children, Dylan, 14, and Coral, 12, attend Tiverton public schools. They enjoy sailing on the Sakonnet River, hiking in Pardon Gray and Weetamoo Woods, windsurfing at Fogland and biking the area’s country roads.

Both Eduardo’s parents were ceramic artists in Uruguay where they owned a small ceramic industry and where Eduardo spent much of his free time playing with clay. Eduardo graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1984 with a BFA. He worked in the graphics and advertising fields then was recruited to join the R & D department at Hasbro as a sculptor. In 1990, he established his own sculpture studio and continued to create original toy sculptures for Hasbro as well as other toy and giftware manufacturers.

As a community, we make different kinds of contributions to the Land Trust, some monetary, some volunteer help. Eduardo contributed a third, his artistic endeavors. The Tiverton Land Trust is about aesthetics in that it strives to preserve and protect a beautiful place to live. Eduardo’s contribution went right to the heart of what the TLT is about – enhancing the beauty of our surroundings. How grateful we all are for Eduardo’s interpretation of that beauty.