Chicago Trip
Lisa Luevanos, Consuela Barber Lopez, Dioni Duran, and I went to Chicago to look at sketched and finished mosaic walls of a freeway underpass. As we observed these art work, I got inspired to present this art to my community. We went to many neighborhoods and saw examples of different art work. As we were talking to one of the artist, Juan Carlos Perez, we discovered the process of making the tiles and setting them up in the cement wall. We also saw different types of mosaic benches. Observing the craftsmanship of the mosaic benches will be helpf
ul as we're constructing one for the Southwest Detroit area.
This is the sketch of how the wall will be looking like in a few weeks. The process consists of doing a sketch to begin with, and then placing the tiles on top of the sketch. First, the thinset will be placed and then the mosaic tiles will be placed. Different colors and different shapes will be incorporated in the art work to show a meaning of the piece.
As you can see on your right, this is a finished piece. of the mosaic underpass of the freeway wall. These walls always have a way to a story, not only by how its placed but also on the shapes and colors that are shown in the story. Some parts of this art work is mosaic tiles or mural painting. The beauty of walking under the underpass of a freeway bridge reminds me of the story of the ugly troll under the bridge, the beauty of imagination works its weird ways.
The Mosaic Bandstand
This the first piece to the project. As shown above the sketch comes first and then mosaic tiles will be placed on the thin set. Same thing will happen to the band stand. "Sol Del Barrio", a mosaic tile sun will be created on the bandstand walls at Clark Park. We picked this place to create a mosaic tile sun because the bandstand represents Southwest as many performances, festivals and rallies have been hosted. The rear wall of the band stand will combine mosaic tiles with photo tiles of neighborhood activities. The sun will reflect the warmth and vibrant colors of the indigenous cultures in the calm natural setting of this park.
