Starlight is one of the 89 individually decorated owls on display in Birmingham for the Big Hoot Trail this summer. The beautiful, hand-crafted mosaic owl was created by internationally renowned artist Caroline Jariwala. Caroline, who lives in Bearwood and a member of Edgbaston Quaker Meeting House, designed the owl with a group of young people from residential care in Birmingham. Through mosaic depicting children holding hands the owl raises awareness for the need for more foster and adoptive parents in Birmingham. Starlight, named by the children, is a star attraction on The Big Hoot, standing outside the Pavilions shopping centre in the High Street.

Starlight_Caroline-Jariwall-e1436915244226.jpgThe group of ten young people, aged 11-17 years old, are from Camborne House and Clissold Street children’s homes. Their creative design was recently commended at the High Sheriff Awards. The group were nominated by the Lord Mayor’s office for the Young Person’s Inspiring Others category and won!

Caroline is a highly prolific artist who has been working in the field of fine art since 1986. She is enjoys being part of school and community projects which help others explore emotion and memories. Most of Caroline’s artwork is inspired by her Gujarati Indian heritage, a fusion of Hindu symbolism and Quaker spirituality, developed through investigating themes of ritual, custom and culture.

“I move between two cultures; this has enabled me to develop my own personal faith journey. My work is meditative, exploring a range of emotion and experience.

I define myself as picassiette mosaic artist. Picassiette is a French slang term meaning “stolen from plate.” It is as though I am freeing the crockery pattern from a cup or serving dish to give new life.

The mosaic speaks to people’s conditions. It works on many levels. People are reminded of crockery from their childhood, there is a positive reminiscence connected to their own story.”

Caroline-Jariwala.jpgCaroline has been delighted to be part of the Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s fundraiser and how The Big Hoot trail has brought the community together, introduced art to a wide audience and raise awareness of great causes. Starlight will be auctioned with the other owls on The Big Hoot in October to raise money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Caroline is currently exhibiting with two Quaker women artists at Inside Out-Outside In, Internal and External Human Landscapes at St Martin in the Fields Crypt Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London from Tuesday 11 August to Sunday 6 September 2015.

In addition, Caroline runs one day mosaic workshops at her home studio in Bearwood. She is also an Associate Tutor at Woodbrooke, and will be running a 4-day mosaic course in August 2016. A solo exhibition of mosaic works inspired by the patterns in flora and fauna is planned at Winterbourne Gardens, Birmingham, in Sept 2016.

Caroline’s website is: www.carolinejariwala.co.uk

Caroline Facebook page is: www.facebook.com/mango.mosaics