Month: September 2016

Inspired by Mercer Island Students, Orantes’ Paintings Feature Island Scenes

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

It’s September and students are back in school, the weather is getting cooler and all the pieces of my  April 2014 proposal: Luther Burbank Playground Mosaic Enhancement have been accomplished.  The custom painting by José Orantes shimmers in the 38′ x 5′ mosaic mural and the mosaics created with students in our  workshops now enhance the playground. The project culminates with José Orantes “Birds in Flight” Artist Exhibition at the Mercer Gallery at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center from September 12 through October 28, 2016.

Gallery Opening Reception for José Orantes 
Thursday, September 15, 2016 from 6:30PM – 8:00PM
Mercer Gallery @ The Mercer Island Community and Event Center
8236 SE 24th Street, Mercer Island

Artwork is for sale with a percentage of the sales going to support arts and cultural programming of the Mercer Island Arts Council.
The framing of Jose Orantes’ paintings have also been supported by an Arts, Heritage and Preservation Grant from 4Culture.

Throughout this project, José Orantes has been painting in his studio. José’s series of new paintings for this gallery exhibit feature Mercer Island and PNW scenes created in his own artistic and whimsical style. Orantes found himself inspired by the Mercer Island students we worked with in our workshops. This inspiration, along with his talent and imagination captures the vitality of Mercer Island and the Pacific Northwest in vibrant colors.

© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016
© Jose Orantes 2016

 

José, Nancy and I were excited to see how the nearly 50 paintings and prints created by the artist filled the Mercer Gallery. We hope to see you at the reception this Thursday night, September 15th – 6:30 – 8 p.m. @ the Mercer Island Community and Event Center.

Hanging the show along with volunteers from the MI Arts Council
Jose Orantes and his painting
Jose and Nancy after hanging the exhibit
The Luther Burbank Playground Mosaic Art Enhancement proposed by Sandy Glass was funded by the Mercer Island Arts Council. The 3rd– 5th grade workshops, not fully funded in the grant received supplemental support by the Mercer Island Community Fund and also from a private donation to honor the memory of Aaron and Mickie Freed.  José Orantes is also grateful for a grant received by 4Culture to help frame his art for his gallery exhibition.

 

Hakatai, Luther Burbank Park Playground, Mercer Island, MFImages, Mosaic Installation, Public Mosaic Installation, Uncategorized

Mike Frey captures “Birds in Flight”

Link | Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

Josè Orantes and I have completed the installations of nearly 250 square feet of mosaics at the Luther Burbank Park Playground on Mercer Island!

One of the highlights of working in the playground for much of the Summer was meeting folks that stopped by as we were working. As we were installing the 5′ high x 38′ long mosaic installation above the playground, we had the pleasure of meeting professional photographer, Mike Frey.

Mike Frey has taken these fabulous images of the mosaic installation based on Josè Orantes’ painting. Please be sure to credit Mike Frey for these images. 

Pre-grout photos taken by photographer Mike Frey:

Post-grout photos by Mike Frey:

Thank you Mike Frey! We love how you’ve captured the detail, colors and beauty of the mosaic installation.

To see more of Mike Frey’s photos, check out his webpage:
mfreyimages.smugmug.com

Caulk, Expansion Joints, Mercer Island, Mosaic Installation, Public Mosaic Installation

Expansion Joints – Part 2

Link | Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

In an earlier blog post I mentioned my preoccupation with expansion joints. These thin vertical  joints in the mosaic are prepared by using 1/16″ pin striping tape and thin rope to designate clean lines that are filled with a flexible caulk (instead of grout) to allow for small amounts of movement within the concrete. 

Soon after grouting , the rope used to protect each vertical expansion joint line is carefully removed and the gap is filled with the flexible caulk. We have installed 9 of these expansion joints that are now filled with caulk and nearly impossible to see in the finished mosaic mural.

There are four caulked expansion joints in the part of the mural where a crack in the concrete was repaired by Joe McCarty (www.joetile.com). Can you see them? (I can’t.)

 

grouting, Hakatai, Luther Burbank Park Playground, Mercer Island, Mosaic Installation, Public Mosaic Installation

The final details! Finessing the Hole!

Link | Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

We’ve finished working on the mosaic mural of Jose Orantes painting “Birds in Flight.” Please bear with me as I share our last work sessions in which we focused on the details. 

We knew tiling the hole would be complicated
Lots of detail work!
Tiles were cut one-by-one to fit
We took care to work from both sides
Here’s a detail…
Pleased with the results.

Tiling around and within the concrete wall was challenging and took a long time. Jose and I created a plan for tiling the angled and curved surfaces. We introduced a neutral gray 3/4″ glass tile inside the circular space with one row of the 10mm tile running dow the center. This design filed the width of the surface perfectly.

Working together, Jose applied the thinset glass adhesive to the surface and I carefully placed the tile all around the inside surface of the cutout. Along the top (upside down), I took care to install smaller pieces of the mesh-backed tile to assure that they would adhere. On the angled curved surface rows of four tiles were sliced so that the outer row near the horizontal tiled wall could be separated a little. The following day, I needed to fine-tune our work. We know how important it is for opening to be strong and also finely finished to avoid sharp edges.

IMG_3413

For the horizontal plane to accommodate the circle cutout, nearly every tiny tile around the circumference needed to be cut on the appropriate angle. That was this detail-oriented artist’s challenge.

 

As you can imagine, many hours were spent working on this detail in the mural. The colors of 10mm tile used in the hole come from Jose’s design. He purposely incorporated a neutral area where the mural hit the hole. We used these tiles that got cut out within and around the hole!

 

Heather “muds” with expertise!
Nancy, Jose, Sandy, Heather
Nancy filling in grout and finessing.
Carole helps in so many ways!

I can’t mention enough how awesome our friends/volunteers are. Thank you Heather, Nancy, Bonni, Sari and Carole for your help with the hole and the final details!