Yes, that’s 24-karat gold leaf on that North Shores mosaic

There’s been a large house under construction on the corner of Holly Road and Ocean Drive in the North Shores community for the better part of a year now. It has a pool that faces Ocean Drive.

About a month ago, while driving around looking for downed trees in the aftermath of the late February snowstorm, I drove by the house and I was stopped in my tracks. Seemingly out of nowhere, the pool wall facing Ocean Drive now had an amazing mosaic on it.

The mosaic is larger than a pickleball court and features a bronze-colored man chiselling himself out of stone, with a huge golden sun surrounding the man. The remainder of the wall features individual gold tiles mixed in with blue tiles in a variety of hues. Accentuating the shimmering tiles is a waterfall cascading over the mosaic from the pool above.

It was too impressive to have just magically appeared; I needed to know more about the mosaic. Near the base of the stone being chipped away by the man is the artist’s name – Danilo Bonazza – so I reached out to him to find out more.

Bonazza is an Italian-born artist who moved to the United States years ago and now lives in New Jersey. He has mosaics in hotels, public spaces, businesses and private homes all over the world. This isn’t Bonazza’s first piece in Delaware, but it’s the first that can be seen from the street by the general public.

The mosaic was installed over the course of about three months last year, but it was covered by a protective structure while other construction was taking place and while waiting for the pool’s heating system to be installed, said Bonazza. The temporary structure was removed in February, he said.

In addition to the pool’s road-facing wall, Bonazza’s tile work extends up and into the pool. He estimates the whole job took about 590,000 tiles, all sourced from Italy.

The sun’s tiles and all the individual gold tiles are 24-karat gold leaf that’s been sandwiched between two layers of glass and fused together with heat, Bonazza. It’s a painstaking process, but otherwise, the gold leaf will stain, he said.

Bonazza said the individual gold tiles can be interpreted in two ways – stone chips coming from man sculpting himself or sun rays that have been scattered by the water.

Except for a few curved areas that required on-site work, the mosaic and the pool were prepared at his studio before being shipped in pieces and reassembled in place, said Bonazza. The mosaic is three large pieces, while the rest was done with 12-by-12-inch squares, he said.

It’s like putting a puzzle together, said Bonazza.

Once on site, Bonazza has to make sure the pool walls are level before anything is installed. Once that’s done and after the tiles have been installed, a special epoxy is applied to protect the art from sunlight, rain and other weather. It’s near the ocean and open to the elements, so it needs to be durable enough to stand the test of time, he said.

In the coming months, as bike and pedestrian traffic increases along the Gordons Pond Trail, there will undoubtedly be others who are stopped in their tracks. Hopefully, the early-morning riders aren’t blinded by the real sun reflecting off the gold-leafed sun.

It’s not a gold-leafed mosaic, but I like it too

About 13 miles west of Bonazza’s mosaic, off Fisher Road near the intersection with Route 9, are the remains of what used to be a mural that was at the Big Chill Surf Cantina on southbound side of Route 1 outside Rehoboth.

The mural featured another sun-related image, but instead of a man sculpting himself out of stone, there was a man surfing a wave while holding a bottle of tequila. Side note – what’s more impressive, sculpting oneself out of a stone or surfing without spilling a drop of alcohol?

The faded mural was removed from the bar about five years ago. I noticed it was being reused a few years ago. I went to the house on the other side of the fence and knocked on the door to see if they'd be willing to tell me how they got it. No one answered the door, but the doorbell was attached to a home security system, and my presence got the attention of someone who wanted to know what I wanted. I explained why I was there, but I never heard from them.

Clearly, the mosaic is an attention-grabbing piece of art that deserves to be recognized as such. However, I like the mural too, and I can imagine how impressive that design would look covered in 24-karat gold leaf.

Joke of Week

Easter is this weekend. There are lots of egg-cellent jokes out there, so I’ll leave you to hunt for them on your own. Instead, I’ve got a joke about doing housework, or in this case not doing housework because National No Housework Day is Tuesday, April 7. As always, send jokes to cflood@capegazette.com.

Q: Did you hear about the new broom that just came out?

A: It’s sweeping the nation.