Bright Ideas Mural

Jingletown has a new mosaic.

Well, technically it's just over the bridge in Alameda on Blanding Street.

The name is "Bright Ideas" and it is a 365 square foot, 75 foot long mural on the
facade of a software company named Perforce.

Delaine Hackney designed it, Julie Alpers and I assisted in the mosaic work
and the three of us did the installation.
(Mary Earl, a mosaic artist from Las Vegas
came up to pitch in on the installation too.)

As the viewer walks up on this image from either end,
he will think that it is simply a design of colorful circles.
But those soon coalesce into the main image - a woman blowing bubbles - and the
whole image takes shape.

This work has three large separate sections - a small planter on the left:

the large center section:

and a large planter to the right:

Farther down the sidewalk there are even a few "bubbles" that
have blown out of the "frame":

Unlike the last installations which necessitated scary scaffolding and rickety ladders,
this site was at street level. Inside the building there was an elevator we could use
and outside there was a ramp instead of stairs! Very civilized.

So of course we had to take advantage of the ramp and have some fun.

Here we are ramp-surfing!

But after the frivolity it was time to get serious
so Delaine gently nudged us back to work.

She runs a tight ship!

Delaine's style is to use found objects and other elements of surprise in her designs.
This work includes small animal tiles. If the viewer looks closely he will see cats:

frogs:

and my favorites, ANTS:

This job was fun, not only because the logistics were easy
but the "audience" - Perforce employees, pedestrians,
neighborhood denizens - were all engaged and enthralled by the art and the process.
We had many visitors while we worked.
The weather veered wildly from freezing cold to boiling hot
but we got the installation done in three weeks.

Exhaustion made us giddy so by the end of the installation
we would yell "Ta Daaaaa" after each section was complete.
The closer we got to the end, the louder and longer would be our "Ta Daaaa".
It became a silly but fun tradition.
So here we are - Julie, me and Delaine - saying "Ta Daaaa"
to the completion of "Bright Ideas":

Here is a map that shows not only where this new mosaic is (indicated by the red dot) but where all the many mosaics in Jingletown can be found.