A fantastical dragon is welcoming visitors to Tavistock Library as the centrepiece of a newly unveiled mosaic created by families and other residents.

The community mosaic celebrates books and the power of stories to stimulate the imagination. The dragon design was created by one of a group of local residents who worked on it in a project run by West Devon Art Workshops (WDAW) and funded by the National Lottery.

Andy Cairns, who runs WDAW, said: “This is a really creative piece by local people and families who knew absolutely nothing about mosaic-making. But they learned fast and have come up with a fantastic and fantastical piece of work. The project is funded to be a way of connecting people in the area and encouraging them to take part in art.

“One of our talented participants came up with the dragon design which is very appealing. Everyone had the chance to contribute their own characters which include two from Harry Potter and a mermaid, a lobster, centaur, fox, phoenix, unicorn and butterfly, among others. There was no big overall plan. I guide people and give them as much freedom as they need to be creative and use their imagination. The dragon is portrayed as arising from a book and he is surrounded by smaller animals, creatures and even a comet.”

The mosaic took ten weeks to create and was chosen by the library for its foyer after staging mosaic workshops for children in the library.

Jan Horrell, library supervisor, said: “It’s an amazing piece of art. It’s lovely and all by people who had no experience of making mosaics and some of not even doing any form of art. It’s so professional, but very welcoming and friendly which is exactly what we want in the entrance where people walk through. It gives them something interesting to look at and you see more as you stand and look.”

Mosaic-maker Daranee Boon said: “This was a brilliant project. I knew nothing about mosaics, but Andy is very encouraging and nurtures our creativity and imagination. It’s a real accomplishment.”