Q2. Why did you select the creature/s or the flora for your mesh mosaic contribution?

No.	Artist	Country	Response
1	Lyn Tinning	Aust	The red petals of the poinsettia in mosaic represents how Steve Irwin’s heart reached out and touched the hundreds of animals and people throughout the world. The centre of bright yellow represents his exuberant, gregarious, contagious and genuine True-Blue Aussie spirit.
2	Beverly Romanowski	Aust	The palm tree symbolizes Steve Irwin’s Queensland lifestyle and love of the tropics.
4, 30, 245, 246	Jan Abbotts	Aust	Just thought that they would be fun to do and some turned out nicely and some, well they might just end up in the disaster pages. Totally up to the group getting to stick it all together in the end.
8	Lorraine Burdett	Aust	During the late 1980’s my husband Duncan and I joined some other member of our family to drive up to Coober Pedy to fossick for opals. Well into the desert region of South Australia we had to pull over and stop due to some car problems. It had been the wettest spring for some forty years and Lake Eyre had actually flooded. To our delight we had stopped right beside a very large patch of Sturt’s Desert Pea with it’s beautiful red flowers massing among the leathery leaves. It was the first and only time we ever saw these flowers anywhere. It amazed us that such a delicate looking flower could survive in such harsh desert conditions. The seeds must have lain in wait for many years of drought before rain finally arrived and they could flourish. We took photos of them and when I hear of a memorial for Steve Irwin I felt that he was a unique man, just as this flower display had been to us. Sadly he cannot re emerge as these flowers did, but his memory will live on and his work continue.
12, 13	Janelle & Kirra & Jay Csurhes	Aust	Frogs are a great indicator of the health of your local environment/ecosystem. We are lucky enough to have many species of frogs in our local area. I chose to do a colourful frog because Steve was such a colourful character. Kirra liked my frog and asked if it would be ok if she did a frog too.
19, 101, 106, 123, 176, 180, 181	Donna Coogan & Family	USA	Donna - I made 3 mosaics: an Eastern Gray Squirrel, a butterfly, and an elephant. I love butterflies and knew immediately that I would create one. I visited a live Butterfly Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC several years ago and that really got me hooked on them. I was able to hold them in my hands and really study and appreciate their fragile beauty and uniqueness. I also love butterflies because of their reference to my mosaic art. I mosaic flea market furniture pieces and other used items and transform them with a variety of tesserae; I guess you could say they go through a metamorphosis much like the caterpillar to the butterfly. I chose the Eastern Gray Squirrel because our yard is full of them and I love to watch them. I have spent many hours studying them and even naming some of them just for fun. The first name I ever gave a squirrel in our yard was Bonzer and he was the inspiration for my mosaic. I love to watch the squirrels gather and hide nuts. They are so cute the way they bury the nut, patting the ground with their little paws. I watched 2 squirrels in particular over the span of a week and noticed that whenever one wandered too close to another part of the yard, the other squirrel would chase him off. After researching on the Internet, I learned that squirrels are territorial and won’t let other squirrels gather nuts or build nests in “their” area. Another fascinating fact I learned was that squirrels can smell a nut several feet under the ground. I thought this was interesting because I had noticed the squirrels didn’t seem to bury their nuts in one spot – but rather randomly all over the yard. I couldn’t imagine how they ever found them again. Now I know they use their sense of smell – although they were not burying them several feet – only a few inches. My elephant mosaic was actually inspired by my 4yo son & I actually consider it a joint effort with him. I had invited my husband and children to participate in this project and each make a mosaic. My 4yo wanted to mosaic an elephant. I found a picture of a baby elephant from a coloring book and blew it up for him. He chose all the tesserae colors and randomly placed them on the mesh. Afterward, I cut the tiles and tightened up his design and glued it for him. John (husband) created a butterfly – I love butterflies. Steve's love has left a lasting effect on our whole family. I just wanted to give a little back. Seth (19yo) - Because crocodiles have always fascinated me and obviously they were a big part of Steve Irwin's life. Laryssa (17yo) – Because I love flamingos. Cory (12yo) - Cuz all the time I see box car turtles in the yard. They're cool & I like them. Shane (9yo) – Because I saw a black racer snake in real life and I thought it would be cool to make it.
24, 175, 207	Liz, Matt & Alannah Greenham	Aust	Liz – like the photo of the Brolga, Alannah associated Steve with Crocs and Matt likes Pandas.
25, 26	Carolyn Crawford	USA	Colourful – love flamingo colour.
27,28	Veronica Schubert	Aust	I made these flamingos because they have always fascinated me ever since I was a kid. I finally got to see some real live ones when I visited the zoo in Hawaii.
29	Valerie Fuqua	USA	I had just completed two monochromatic mosaics and was so sick of looking at browns and blues. I wanted to make something colorful and when I started staring at a pile of mixed Mexican smalti, I knew that it was calling out to be a toucan’s beak.
34	Nancy Neubauer	USA	Every crocodile was special to Steve.
55, 56, 57, 58	Robyn Dale	Aust	When I first thought of Steve, the hummingbird came into my mind. It didn’t seem appropriate until I looked up the symbolic meaning of this wonderful little bird in a book called “Animal Messenger” by Scott Alexander King. The following quote from the passage regarding the hummingbird says it all. “Hummingbird’s love of freedom is so passionate and its appreciation for beauty so rich that anything that hinders the celebration of either weighs heavily on its heart.” ‘Spot on’, I thought.
78	Hilde Hader	Canada	A koala - I could not think of anything else.
87, 88	Karen & Laura Apolloni	USA	Echidnas – we wanted to do something that would probably get left out if we didn’t do it. Echidnas are native to Australia, too, of course.
150	Peggy L. Brown	USA	A vulture sounded interesting and the lizard. I just got a kick out of the way he looked.
167	Jan Stiffler	USA	When Terri and Bindi were on Larry King, Terri told about Bindi telling zoo visitors to “Mind the ants. Please don’t step on the ants.” The family respects ALL living things from the very smallest to the largest.
179	Christine Brallier	USA	Myndee is a resident of the Australia Zoo and when I saw her photo I thought she was one of the most beautiful animals I had ever seen! She was one of the many animals Steve loved and so I wanted her included.
183, 184	Linda L Phillabaum	USA	Honestly, my husband requested it, he picked the puffin before I had something else in mind so I went with it. I am a member of the yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mosaic_addicts/ and one day I was posting that I had finished my puffin for the mural. I saw a posting that Sandy wanted something pink for the mural. So I ‘googled’ ‘pink animal’ and it came back with a pink dolphin. I posted on the group site that I was thinking about doing the pink dolphin. I received MUCH encouragement from members of the mosaic addicts group!
193, 209	Dianne Schnarr	New Zealand	The “crocodillo” as I call him was created as a contribution to the boarder but once I got going I realize it now may be too big. The fish was chosen as I find fish great creatures to mosaic because of their colour. There are so many of them in the seas and oceans who can say what is real and not.
199	Christine McKenzie	New Zealand	Yes because I love cats, but have never made a mosaic cat before, and I was also inspired by some retro 70’s coloured ceramic tiles, and eye gems that I had at home.
166, 202	Carolyn and Anna Talar	USA	Carolyn - I actually had concluded back early in 2007 when the project was announced that I wasn't in any way experienced enough to contribute to such an important piece, but fate intervened later in the year. Our family is involved, because of our 10 y.o. Daughter (who ended up making Tagu), in cougar conservation activism in Oregon. When Anna and we presented at a Conservation Festival in Corvallis in October, an older gentleman from the Herpetological Society told us about how a girl named Terri Raines used to do what we were doing, only she would bring a live cougar! We have no live cougar but we do the best we can :) and that very evening, when returning home and seeing an eerily coincidental post on the mosaic addicts list noting that there was not yet a cougar on the Memorial Wall, the next steps were obvious. We were then lucky enough to be offered a picture of Terri and Malina via an e-mail exchange with another mosaicist in Australia, of all things. In that picture their love for each other came through so clearly—we could just imagine Malina patiently enduring a kids' conservation festival, as long as she could be with Terri. We're proud to be able to represent one of North America's apex predators/umbrella species, and even happier that with this specific cougar we are able, in some small symbolic way, to reunite Terri with someone she loved, when circumstances so cruelly parted them too soon. I did change the eyes in the photo, though, because they were so sad and downcast...I wanted to give Malina more hope. Anna - Because my second favorite animal is the wolf and my mom was already doing a cougar so I wanted to do a wolf.
206	Liz Brazelton	USA	The animal I selected was a tiger. I started to do just one of the tigers in the zoo, when the beloved mascot of Louisiana State University, Mike the Tiger passed away. I decided it would be a nice tribute to both to do a likeness of the school’s mascot.
210, 211	Caroline Kovacs	Aust	I chose a salt water crocodile because I knew that crocodiles were in great demand for the border. I also had some earthy/green tiles given to me that I could immediately visualize would be great for a crocodile.
212, 215	June Johnstone	Aust	I chose to make the Cassowary because the first DVD I watched with my family about Steve was the time he was chased and put over a fence by a rather angry Cassowary, until then I didn’t know they were quite so aggressive. Also I thought they were a beautiful bird.
213	Sandy Ozols	Aust	Selected these creatures at the time as nobody else had yet. I have always photographed animals, wild Australian pelicans for the last 2 yrs I love most animals & photography so I can combine these to make original mosaics.
233	Denny Nkemontoh	USA	One of my favorite animals is the hedgehog but I wanted to do an Australian animal. In the process of researching the hedgehog, I discovered the echidna and fell in love.
235	Michelle Curow (aka Dotty Marzipan)	Canada	I picked the beaver to represent Canada, my country, as it is the national animal. If I do manage to get mosaic #2 completed it will be of a Canada Goose. Same reason really, it represents Canada, a country I love. And they are magnificent birds (and I already have all the colours I need!!!).
236	Dotti Stone	USA	I’ve always been fascinated with cockatoos – don’t know if I would have done something different had I been aware of this amazing project earlier, but, I’m happy with my choice.
239	Deborah Boyd	USA	I Chose a sea turtle. They are an endangered species and such a beautiful creature.. Out of the thousands of eggs produced yearly only a few survive.
240, 241, 242, 243, 244	Lynne Mosiman	USA	Naomi Kirkvold, who was 8 years old when she made her piece, says she picked the cheetah because they’re soooo fast. She was also born in the year of the cheetah (or some sort of cat), and she loves kitties. Emily, who was 11 years old when she made her rainbow trout, says she made it because the mural needed more fish, and the rainbow trout was the pretties of all. Irene Mosiman, made the road runner as her first mosaic ever at 75. She had so much fun making the road runner that she made a coyote to go with it – just like in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Lynne Mosiman was feeling especially bothered by the Canadian Seal hunts when she decided which animal to make. She wanted to make a baby harp seal but, being new to mosaics, she couldn’t envision how to make the subtle shading of a white animal. She discovered pictures of beautiful Australian Fur Seals with their babies and knew it was the animal for her.
247, 248	Tracey Holland (mrsdutchy)	Aust	Steve loved his crocs obviously so I chose to do that. As for the elephant, I love them. I also still remember the show when Steve was with the elephants, it was great!
250	Wendy Clayton-Langley	USA	One of my favourites and it fit in with the mural.
249, 251	Maria Kokkoris	Aust	I have two groups per week and one group will do the Banksia (Aust flora) and my other group the Bilby. They really represent Australia.
257	Katie Stecher (Princess Papoola) and Family	USA	Colourful – Fun.
	Berta Sergeant	USA	I wanted to add sparkle and light, and I felt that butterflies would be the nicest way to reflect it.
	Carol Shelkin	USA	The children voted on the Australian, Red-eyed Tree Frog from pictures on the internet. They wanted an animal that was living in Australia.
??	Laura Campbell and Liam Adams	Canada	I love turtles, and thought a sea turtle for Australia was appropriate, my son Liam loves snakes!
??	Maureen Randolph	Aust	The elephant was a must for me as one of his favourites. My piece shows the rear of an elephant to symbolize Steve leaving us. The others included a small croc, a cockatoo, some lizards and a tree.
252	Kate Randolph	Aust	I love frogs.
282, 283	Margaret Johnson	Aust	I have a thing about turtles.
?	Alison Hepburn	England	They are favourite images of mine and it seemed relevant to send mosaics that I am fond of.
214	Jane Denison	Aust	I made an Australian pelican. I think pelicans are comically ungainly – it’s a wonder they can fly with their fat bodies. I also love the weird feathers on top of their head.
260, 262	Lucy Albertson (Sabrina’s Party)	Aust	I chose the Tasmanian devil because I am originally from Tasmania and they are under threat of being listed as an endangered species because of the terrible facial tumours that are killing them in large numbers. I also picked the Whale because as we were starting our second mosaic I remembered that the whale is also in a terrible situation with the Japanese Whalers.
190	Marion Shapiro	Aust	I was making a lot of fused glass fish at the time.
77	Helen Smith	Aust	Because I wanted something colourful and free.
154	Angela Kingshott	England	I like the flow of this piece.
	Jude Russell	Aust	It was based on an indigenous illustration of a frilled lizard and was very decorative.
	June Russell & Cheryl Lynam	Aust	Not sure why Kate chose this creature.
232	Ulrike Martinez	USA	The Platypus is native to Australia, and I find it I like all Australian animals, most intriguing.
279, 280	Rebekah Dawes	Aust	I selected the Great Egret as it is a beautiful bird. He looks majestic as he stands so still patiently waiting.
162	Chris Carey	USA	Manatees are endangered where I live. This is why I picked the gentle giant.
208	Samra Thompson	USA	I chose the duckbilled Platypus because it’s a cute, funny, odd little creature, I can identify with a critter like that. Plus, as an American, when I think of Australia I think of Kangaroos (too obvious) and Koala bears (also too obvious). I like to do something different.
284,285, 286	Dee and Clayton Fisher	Aust	Graeme Wall, the general manager of Laticrete Australia, had a fascination with the Wrasse fish he discovered whilst snorkeling, so suggested that. I don’t know whether the finished product we presented will have any similarity to this or any other fish for that matter. As for Clay and his mate Matthew, they completed a smaller Wrasse and also a wombat just because they liked it.
	Debra Sutton	Aust	My contribution was some colourful tropical fish. All the worlds animals, be it reptiles, mammals, amphibians or fish are just as important as each other. Being that Australia Zoo is on the east coast of Australia, just south of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia’s tropical fish and sea life in general, are as much a part of our identity as Koala’s or Kangaroo’s.