December 3, 2009 -- The San Gines Ceramics Company unveiled this week, for the first time, the work done to date on what is being called “the largest ceramic tile mural in the world.” San Gines, one of the newer incarnations of a ceramics tradition that, for generations, has produced crockery, tableware, architectural ornamentation and decorative accessories in central Spain, was commissioned by the Government of Algeria to produce the mural for the exterior of a new convention center in the city of Oran. When completed, the mural of approximately 55,000 hand-painted tiles will measure 60 meters in length and 35.4 meters in width. Eight ceramics workshops from the region in and around Talavera de la Reina and Toledo, Spain, are helping in the effort to ensure the work is completed in time for the convention center’s opening in April 2010.

The design originated with Algerian artist Tewfik Boumehdi and, since early November, the mural has been rapidly taking shape under the leadership of Monica Garcia del Pino, founder of the San Gines Ceramics Company. Nine painters are translating the work into large scale from Boumehdi’s original drawing and prototype, challenging in that the mosaic is quite different from the styles that they are normally accustomed to. The paint strokes involve continuous and much longer lines, and the red clay tiles are based with a matte finish to minimize reflections from a large building that will be located across the street from the mural wall.

This week, cameras were allowed to film and photograph the work in progress, but the overall design is being kept secret until the final unveiling. In October, while visiting the San Gines workshop, I saw some of the final stages of the design process as a scale model took shape in the form of tiles laid out on the floor to depict a section of Boumehdi’s paper drawings. The photograph shown here is of a small “deconstructed” section and, after seeing the paper drawing of the final product, I feel confident saying that the mural's magnificence won't be fully realized until the entire project has been completed and is in place.



You can follow the progress of the Oran Convention Center ceramic mural,
and learn more about the ceramics of San Gines, Talavera and the surrounding region
by following Cerámica Artística San Ginés – Talavera on Facebook