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The Official Ribbon-Cutting!

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

On Sunday, October 2nd, 2016 the official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Luther Burbank Playground mosaics took place. The weather was beautiful and it was so wonderful to reunite with so many of the children, parents and volunteers that were such an integral part of this project. Together we created and installed nearly 250 square feet of mosaics in the Luther Burbank Park Playground.

Thank you for this opportunity!
Libby and Samantha sharing the HUGE scissors
Carole contemplating the ribbon cutting
MI Councilmember Jeff Sanderson and Mayor Bruce Bassett cutting the ribbon
Sandy and Jose posing with mosaic
Love these women!

We are grateful for the opportunity to create something beautiful for our community playground – Thank you to the Mercer Island Arts Council, and also to the Mercer Island Community Fund and a private donation that filled a gap when we decided to do more of the project with Mercer Island students.

And a HUGE thank you to all the parents who volunteered in our workshops, the volunteers/friends who came to my home studio to help with behind-the-scenes preparation and volunteers who helped with the installation. A call-out to Carole for sharing Turkish coffee on those rainy June installation days — keeping as caffeinated! This project truly has been a community effort and we feel grateful for this opportunity that brought our team of 3rd – 8th grade students, MIHS teens and community volunteers together to create these mosaics!

This mosaic mural began with a sketch

This mosaic “Birds in Flight” is 5 feet high and 38 feet long. Shown above are some preliminary sketches created by Jose Orantes.

Elise and Sandy
Sadie

It was so special to reunite with some of the creative and hardworking students that helped create the mosaics, now nearly a year older than when we first met.

♥

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

Expansion Joints, grouting, Luther Burbank Park Playground, Mercer Island, Mosaic Installation, Public Mosaic Installation, Uncategorized

Looks Like Magic…

Link | Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

José Orantes and I have continued the installation process of the mosaic mural for seven full work days since my last post. Most days we’ve met at playground at 7AM and spend about 45 minutes setting up our tarp canopies, organizing our tools and materials and making a plan for our day. These past few days, José has been grouting the parts that are ready and I’ve been doing the detail work. For folks that come by the wall once a week, our (slow,  persistent) progress looks like magic. That’s just an illusion 🙂

The park is quiet early in the morning. This installation is feet away from the storage room that houses electricity and access to a water hose. It’s also right near the restrooms. The tarp tent feels like a home and provides shade. I’m sure I’ll miss the mornings working here in the playground. We’ve also had the opportunity to chat with folks that walk through the playground during these quiet times. We’re touched by their compliments of the mural-in-progress. It’s so nice seeing Janice Engvall who I knew from when my kids were a Lakeridge, walk by each morning with her husband. This week she said “I walk by every day and now instead of seeing the concrete, I’m watching the wall evolve into beautiful artwork!” 

Here are some photos that illustrate our progress:

Jose grouting.
The pewter grout brings out the colorful tile.
birds fly around the curved concrete.
Love what grouting does!
Lots of detail work around the hole in the wall

Thanks also to some of our friends who stopped by to volunteer this week. Here are a few captured at work. Thanks also to Bonni, Sari and Kathy!

In my next post, I’ll share some details about the detail work. Thanks for checking in.

Luther Burbank Park Playground, Mercer Island, Mosaic Installation, Public Mosaic Installation, Schluter, Uncategorized

Another Mosaic Monday

Link | Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

We hadn’t taken a photograph of our end of week progress on Friday. In those five days of installing (José and I each worked over 40 hours!) we installed over 100 square feet of the mosaic mural (with care). 

 

Our Monday (Day 6) began with set up: unpacking the supplies, laying down canvas tarps, rigging up our canopy to create shade and setting out the tiled panels on our gridded table. Work today included installing mosaics on the curve in the concrete wall. It was quite challenging to cut and maneuver the stainless steel Schluter to follow the curve, remain straight and close to the wall. José is a Schluter expert!

As we continue to install the beautiful tiled mosaic, there’s still detail work that needs attention. Thanks so much to Anu and Sari who helped us today. Thanks also to An for bringing by rags. 

Preparing to install the tiled mosaic

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

The to-scale painting that José Orantes created over 9 months ago has been enlarged and reproduced onto mosaic mesh using 10mm (1/4″) glass tiles instead of paint. The 12.5″ squares of glass tile adhered to mosaic mesh was sent to me via UPS! It was so exciting and mind boggling to receive ten boxes, each weighing approximately 30 pounds, knowing that when installed on the 5′ high by 38′ long concrete wall in Luther Burbank Park (above the playground), the mural will come to life in a tiled, pixelated impressionistic work of art.

A portion of our installation “road map”
A detail from A-3

See how the “A3” tiled square matches up to its designated square on the “road map”?
José and I are thrilled with the range of colors used to recreate the painting.
Some are even iridescent! 

~ Building in Longevity ~

Expansion Joints:
expansion joint
We’ll install expansion joints every eight feet to protect the mural from movement that can occur within the concrete over time. This image (http://www.poolspanews.com/how-to/design-construction/special-report-glass-tile_o) illustrates how expansion joints between the rows of tile is created by placing a flexible sealant where grout normally would go. The flexible filler should absorb stress and allow space for the tile to expand and shift without cracking.

We will paint a coat of Custom Building Products’ Red Guard on the concrete substrate prior to installing the mesh-backed tile as an additional precaution to prevent cracking.

 

Creating a tarp canopy:

Before we begin our work to install the mosaic mural, José has conceived a design for a tent that will shield our installation, materials and us (!) from the sun. We’ll attach a tarp to the top of the concrete wall using four bar clamps. 1″ x 2″ wooden strips will be built into the tarp to provide structure. While we work, the tent will provide shade.

When we are done working for the day, the tarps will be released so that our work-in-progress will be protected.

Materials:
– 16’ x 20’ tarp (we will cut it to 8’ x 20’
–  4 bar clamps to attach to the top of the concrete wall
–  1” x 2” wood strips to create structure.

I’m continuing to develop a checklist detailing the process and the supplies we need to bring to the site so we don’t forget anything. Here were go!

 

 

Tiny tiles pixilate José Orantes’ painting

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

I hope the mosaics adorning the Luther Burbank Playground seem to be magically adding color and sparkle to the concrete surfaces. So much thought, planning, research and effort happens behind the scenes to create this illusion 😉

The 5′ high x 38′ long mosaic mural has been in the works since this project’s inception with José finalizing the painting nearly nine months ago. José can attest to the many sketches that preceded this gorgeous final painting!  Now, we’re anxiously awaiting the tiled sheets that we’ll be installing — a tiled version of Jose’s painting. This medium/technique will look pixilated up close but will visually come together like an impressionist painting from a further away.

~  Here’s a little information about the process ~

José Orantes’ original painting (in parts)

Orantes Painting – Panel 1
Orantes Painting – Panel 2
Orantes Painting – Panel 3
Orantes Painting – Panel 4

Christina at Hakatai  provided me a sample of a detail to show how it would look as a 10mm uncut mosaic mural. As you can see, the tiny tiles pixilate the painting but stay true to the beautiful colors and integrity of the painting.

F429-B-01Vendor mentioned in this post:
Hakatai Tile: 695 Mistletoe Road, Ashland, OR

Defining terms:
10mm uncut mosaic: The mosaic is created using the 1/4″ vitreous glass tiles as pixels in much the same way an impressionist painting uses unmixed spots of paint.

We’ll soon be receiving the boxes of the tiled mosaic along with the roadmap for its installation. Stay tuned for more…

 

 

 

 

 

One more mosaic mural to install

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

So happy to see the mosaics installations that were created with Mercer Island 3rd – 8th graders installed in the playground area of Luther Burbank Park. Thank you to the Mercer Island Reporter for featuring the project in a recent article: http://www.mi-reporter.com/community/385721121.html

The “Luther Burbank Playground Mosaic Enhancement” project includes one more mosaic mural that we plan to install in a few weeks. This one is a mosaic made out of 10mm (about 1/4″) vitreous glass tiles and created from a custom painted mural by artist José Orantes.

While we’re preparing to install this 5′ high x 38′ long mosaic mural. I’d like to share a little background… José Orantes created the original painting to scale. The painting is about 20″ high x 10′ long. Knowing the colors of the tiled mosaic mural would be matched to the range of colors available in vitreous glass tile, José and I purchased the paint from the Daniel Smith Art Supply Store in Seattle, in a palette of colors that could be replicated in the mosaic medium. We can’t wait to share the results!

 José Orantes’ original painting created for the Luther Burbank Park playground…

FinalOrantesMuralPaintingforLBP

We’ve already had the concrete wall where it will be installed made smooth by grinding away the texture and adding a smooth layer of cement. Here’s what the prepared surface looks like:

Sandy inspecting the prepared concrete wall
The 5′ high x 38′ concrete wall above the playground
Jose’s canvas!

Looking forward to sharing more about this upcoming mosaic mural in the playground area soon. Stay posted 🙂

Vendor mentioned in this post:
Daniel Smith: 4150 First Avenue South,  Seattle

 

Detail work with Dental Pics

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

The Mercer Island 3rd – 8th grade students in our workshops would likely agree that creating mosaics is a detail-oriented medium. This attention to the details also applies to installing mosaics. We adhered our top-taped, hands-on mosaics using a specialized thinset adhesive made for glass installations. This product is a bright white so that all our colors of tumbled glass, including translucent glass, will sparkle. Before we can grout with our deep gray “Pewter” mortar, we use dental tools (Thank you, Collette!) to pick away at any white thinset that is at the same level as our tumbled glass and tile.

Picking away excess thinset with patience and care.
Thanks to Jose for innovative cushioning on our tools.

We truly appreciate our amazing  volunteers who made our mosaic dentistry fun and social experience. Some of our volunteers in action:

Werner picking

Werner picking away at the excess thinset.

We’ve been picking tirelessly. What a fabulous team!

Next post will share some grouted mosaics.

Installing another mosaic

Posted on by Sandy Brown Glass

June 16th, 2016:

Today we also arrived at 6:3oam to install our second mosaic mural in the playground. This mosaic fits perpendicular to the first one and is 34″ high x 5′ wide. Here are some photos to illustrate the installation process for mosaic installation #2.