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.

"FIZZ" Mosaic, March 2009

Delaine Hackney's latest mosaic installation was completed on March 21st, 2009.

This is Delaine.It is called "Fizz" and decorates the facade of the ShadZee Bakery at 6o Crescent Drive in Pleasant Hill, CA. This piece consists of 6 panels that measure 5' x 6' each and 4 panels that measure 1' x 5' each. The mosaic work took a couple of months and the installation took two weeks.

Before, above. After, below.

Before, above. After, below.



Before, above. After, below.


The design is comprised of impressionistic bottles done in a sort of 60's style.

(that's me!)

Each bottle is a different color and uses tiles, broken dishes, marbles...
you name it...in Delaine's unique style!
The weather was mostly excellent - wonderful Spring warmth, not Summer frying!
The first panels went up in one day. By the second day we were grouting the first panels in the morning then moving on to install the next two in the afternoon ...
and so on.

The install went smoothly but the most tiring part was dealing with the scaffolding.
Every morning and every evening the "Schlepping of the Scaffolding" would commence. I had to photograph the experience one day! Here are Delaine and Julie demonstrating!
The top "walls" were about 30 feet in the air. They, and then the cross bars securing them, needed to come down first.
But by doing that we had to take down the very things that made us safe up there!
Then the highest platform needed to come down....and, again, with every little bit we would remove, the scaffolding got that much more precarious.
Then the next set of cross bars, the next platform, etc.... And by this time, at the end of each day, we were tired, hungry and filthy! At the beginning of this installation, fear would make us be very careful....by the end of it, we were old pros at this and would be giddy and giggly with exhaustion.
So slowly the scaffolding would come down...inch by inch....piece by piece....becoming more wiggly with each dismantling step!

Then the biggest humiliation of all - we had to drag this contraption across 4 lanes of traffic to the room where it "lived".
It reminded me of the beginning of the old "Monkees" tv show where the 4 of them are pushing a bed down a street....but I digress. By that time we were SO ready for the day to be over we would just laugh at how ridiculous we must look.

Here are the players in this mosaic installation:

Delaine Hackney: designer and principal'

Julie Alpers: mosaics and installation,

and me: mosaics and installation.

"Greener Pastures" Mosaic Installation

For several months - starting in September '08 - I have been working on a large mosaic project headed by my friend and fellow Bay Area mosaic artist Delaine Hackney, pictured below.

Earlier in the year she was commissioned to create a mosaic piece for the front of a new building under construction. This piece consists of 9 pillars, all approximately 14 feet tall and 5 feet around. Delaine named it "Greener Pastures" - for the good times to come - and it now brightens the corner of Adeline and San Pablo in Emeryville, California. After several discussions with the architect and others, the design was honed down to be professional looking, visually captivating and yet not too flashy. Anyone who has ever had to sit in a design meeting hashing out an art project knows how difficult this must have been.

Delaine's final design consists of multiple-sized mosaic circles all in shades of green that sit in a field of 1 inch Penny Round tiles in an off-white color. 650 square feet of these small tiles were required!

But for those of you who know Delaine it will be no surprise that the green circles would not be made of just boring factory tiles!
We used any green tile or bauble that she could find.
And Saundra Warren was commissioned to make 12 green circles of various hues and textures only to have us smash them up to use!

Old tiles, newly bought tiles, found objects like bangle earrings and glass frogs are all included in these circles.

The installation took about three weeks and finished at the end of January '09.

Here are just some of the circles laid out at the begining of the installation.

Our mosaic-artist friend and all-around good egg, Julia Alpers, joined us for the install and was invaluable with her knowledge of perfectly square and level setting. She taught us a lot!

The weather veered from very cold and rainy to very hot and dry.
We worked on ladders and scaffolding and got used to some pretty precarious situations!

As Julia and Delaine would finish a pillar I would move in to grout it.
We were a great team - like a machine!
And for two days Mary Earl, a mosaic artist from Las Vegas, drove all the way up to lend a hand and be part of the action too.

Ichiban, Delaine's beloved dog,

and Julia's Olive, were our doggy support team and provided comic relief.

We were in the midst of some serious construction and at one point Julia was overwhelmed by a desire to pilot this steamroller. I have to say the guys on this job site were great. Helpful, nice, respectful and fun.
As the time passed we raced to stay one step ahead of the window installers!

In this visually over-stimulated world we live in, drivers speeding by will barely notice these pillars.

Pedestrians might notice the multiple colors, textures, sizes and designs as they stroll by.

But for adventurous people who spend time with them - perhaps people who live and shop in and near this building - these circles will provide endless entertainment and visual treasure hunting opportunites. There are 210 circles in total and Delaine and I each mosaicked about half of them. She, of course, did the very special ones!
This job should be done soon so I can post a finished photo without the construction equipment obscuring the view.
See more of Delaine Hackney's work here and Julia Alpers here.