Queen Califia's Magic Circle: Color and Mosaic Inspiration

In the city of Escondido, just outside of San Diego, Kit Carson Park hosts the best surprise. It is a mosaic structure created by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle. Known as Queen Califia's Magic Circle, this sculpture gardent was created for Escondido children, and you will find Mosaic pieces include glass and a variety of tiles, hand-made tiles, smaller sculptures and so on. Niki de Saint Phalle passed away in 2002, but left this (and many other) mosaic as a testimony of life.

As fiber and textile artists, we can be inspired by the many mosaic pieces that create the whole. Think of a quilt or patchwork, or modular knitting or crochet.

Here you can see Queen Califia, and a shot of Leah and I looking at a glass piece of mosaic.


This is a mosaic bench.


Here we are, sitting inside the center sculpture. This gives you a sense of the scale of the place.


Mosaic close-up