Page 26 - Port Douglas Magazine 45

art.
Sam Matthews Moo’s Mosaics:
The Art
of Building
Community
WORDS by Maura Mancini
If you’ve wandered through Rex Smeal
Park in Port Douglas or strolled along
Front Street in Mossman, you might
have noticed something peeking out
from the everyday: bursts of colour, clay
creatures, glinting tiles, and stories told
through mosaics. These are not just
pretty walls. They’re public artworks
crafted by many hands and guided by
one creative spirit: Sam Matthews, also
known as Moo.
Sam and her dog. Aussie
26 Port Douglas Magazine & Travel Planner
A JILL OF MANY TRADES
Sam Matthews Moo defies simple definition - gardener, builder,
ceramicist, community artist, creative dynamo, she’s entirely original.
Or, as she puts it, a “Jill of many trades.”
She rolled into Port Douglas in the 1980s like a character from a
great Australian movie: on a Harley Davidson with her cattle dog,
Aussie, perched on a leather cushion strapped to the fuel tank. She
came to work on the Sheraton Mirage, when the town was on the cusp
of transformation. What was meant to be a short stay turned into a
She founded the Secret Garden Nursery with her friend Karina Eagle
lifelong chapter, as it has for many Port Douglas locals.
and was one of the few women gardeners in town, bringing colour and
creativity to Port Douglas’s tropical greenery. Her flair soon extended
to the Pink Flamingo Resort and later her quirky guesthouse, The
Moo Bay Muse. She also exhibited with Port Douglas Artists Inc and
mentored others through Douglas Arts Studio (DAB).
Her nickname? A nod to West Australian humour. “I built a place in
Cow Bay in the Daintree,” she explains. “And being from WA, where
we nickname everything, Cow Bay became Moo Bay.” Guests at her
guesthouse assumed she was the muse herself and began calling her
Moo. “I never corrected them,” she grins. “It just stuck.” And Moo she
remains — how she’s known, and how she signs her work.
ART WITH DIRT UNDER FINGERNAILS: FROM SOIL TO CLAY
Before clay, there was soil. Moo’s deep connection to nature
and community made her gardens and guesthouses feel like art
installations. But her mosaics, especially those created with the
community, have become her most visible and celebrated work.
Locals helped create small pieces: seeds, beetles, ladybirds, bees that plays with opposites: fragments and wholeness, beauty and disruption,
Over the past few years, Moo, alongside creatives like Leanne were fired, cut and arranged like a giant, one-of-a-kind puzzle. “Nothing stillness and movement. She still loves old Holdens, cattle dogs, warm
Emmitt, Ellen Terrell and Liz Showniruk, has helped deliver several
community-led mosaic projects in the Douglas Shire. is uniform,” Moo says. “That’s the point.” Creating the mosaic took compost and watching ants go about their day. “I like making beautiful
things that might make people think about uncomfortable subjects.”
months, workshops, material prep, installation. It’s a slow, detailed
These colourful, collaborative works highlight the natural world and process. “Mosaic is incredibly labour-intensive,” she says. “It takes Her life is a mosaic in itself: vibrant, handmade, and always evolving.
the ecosystems we share, aiming to spark wonder, connection, and patience and problem-solving, especially on this scale with so many THE BIGGER PICTURE
people involved.” Moo steers the vision but welcomes variation. Once
awareness about the fragile beauty around us. the panels were finished, they were mounted, installed, and grouted. To Moo, community art is more than decoration: it’s a tool for
Moo’s first major project, Life Among the Trees, transformed the The result? Layered, living public art reflecting the textures of local life. connection. “Strong, interesting communities don’t just happen.
Rex Smeal Park amenities block with rainforest creatures made in People build them,” she says. “And art helps us do that.”
community workshops held at Douglas Arts Base and Mossman Between May 2024 and April 2025, Moo and
Community Centre. When a wheelchair-accessible toilet was added Leanne Emmitt ran 52 workshops with around She keeps the process open, accessible and
in 2019, they extended the mural with Part Two, supported by a 13 participants in each. Sixty-nine ceramic delightfully imperfect. “It doesn’t have to be
Douglas Shire Council community grant. decorators crafted more than 700 tiles and 46 perfect,” she says. “It just has to be real.”
mosaic artists assembled 115 panels. There were
“We live on the edge of reef and rainforest, full of wildlife, there’s 11 Kuku Yalanji language contributors, 24 haiku So next time you’re in Mossman or Port Douglas
endless inspiration,” she says. poets, five ceramicists, and seven installation and you bump into one of these mosaics, look
helpers. All pitched in, donating thousands of closer. You’ll see frogs, birds, insects, poetry,
Participants created birds, butterflies, frogs and insects using outlines hours, all voluntarily. The result is a true mosaic and laughter. You’ll see fragments pieced
traced on mesh and tiny pieces of ceramic, glass, and pottery tiles. ecosystem: butterflies flitting, bees swarming, together by many hands. Somewhere in the
These were installed among hundreds of colourful, hand-painted ants on the march, with interesting insect information and haiku poems shimmer of tile and grout, you might just find a little bit of Moo
leaves, then tied together during a few weeks’ installation process. hidden among the tiles. and sense the quiet magic that happens when a community builds
something extraordinary together.
A MOSAIC ECOSYSTEM Locals speak of it with pride. Tourists stop for photos. And Moo
Commissioned by Douglas Shire Council and supported by the continues planting seeds—literal and metaphorical for a more connected See Moo’s latest personal works in the group exhibition Escape Artists:
Queensland Government’s Regional Arts Development Fund, Making and colourful world. These projects remain deeply grassroots. “No Contemporaries in FNQ. On show from 18 September to 4 October,
Mosaics for Mossman is even more ambitious: a 51-metre artwork contractors, no corporate teams — just locals, making magic,” she says. 10 am–4 pm daily at Port Douglas Community Hall.
winding along Front Street. It’s alive with butterflies, ants, bees, a giant
cane toad and vines, crafted by many, for many. The process blends A LIFE UNEXPECTED portdouglasartists.com.au
art and community. “When people help make something, they care “I’m inspired by solitude and the natural world,” Moo explains. “I like
more,” Moo says. “It creates a real connection.” working with my hands and watching things grow.” Her artistic practice
PORT DOUGLAS MAGAZINE 27