Our Latest Installation: Lafayette Mercantile

In honor of the fact that we were supposed to install this project this week (and the second week of December) I will post pics of latest project: A mosaic fountain for Lafayette Mercantile, a new upscale shopping plaza in downtown Lafayette. (Is there a downtown Lafayette?) Anyway..

Left is me with sample board that was submitted to design firm and client. We are on job site here in November to take a template of inside of fountain so we can create an exact scale drawing to use a a guide for mosaic creation.

We were approached by a design firm in San Francisco to develop designs for the inside of a fountain with a sea theme. They wanted starfish, fish, swirls (no mirror) and they wanted Roman. I proposed a what I have been calling a "Nouveau Italian" style.. meaning a contemporary riff on Roman style using ceramic tile cut in square (and other geometric) shapes. The style is more organic for me and I like it better than a straight Roman style. I follow traditional setting "rules" but then I "embellish" them. And use larger tesserae than the tiny squares, adding accents in a contemporary carved/ fitted style.



We have completed and installed the ball at the top of the fountain. The rest is sitting in the studio waiting to be installed. I had to do the ball on site because it couldn't come to the studio. I actually enjoyed being out on the job site because I rarely do projects outside of the studio anymore (unless community projects) and I enjoy talking to passerby and the other people on the job site.


Here are some in progress shots. Design was made in sections on fiberglass mesh backing. We use a temporary, water soluble glue to affix the tesserae to the mesh, which becomes part of the installation.The sections get installed in to a mortar bed at one time like a giant puzzle.



To left is the ball at the top of the fountain. This part is finished, grouted and sealed. We used midnight blue grout.

More pictures of this project later in the month. We are hopefully going to install the inside sections (bottom and inside walls) next week.

Then we move onto a set of murals for downtown Oakland and a set of sphere shaped sun sculptures for an SF Arts Commission.

First Entry for True Mosaics Studio Blog

Welcome to the blog for my studio, True Mosaics Studio, in Oakland.

Here is where I'll be posting photos and commentary on projects we are working on in the studio- public art, architectural commissions and community projects and classes I teach around the country. I will be posting about my personal artwork on my other blog: laurel true: food art adventure. Nothing about sandwiches here.. mostly professional art stuff. Enjoy.

Since I am behind by 18 years in my postings, I will be using this blog to recap projects we have already worked on as well as putting up new and in progress projects.

To the left is a photo of an series of sculptural benches we installed in September 2007 in a park in Brentwood, CA.

Rainbow's End Benches c) True Mosaics Studio Inc.
Ceramic tile, mirror, glass on sculptural concrete base.

Here are some detail shots. In progress shots in studio to follow.













Above is a 24" diameter "sun" in between the rainbow benches. The science tie in is that the sun shines on the raindrops- executed in clear glass half marbles- to form the rainbow.

Detail of back in studio yard.















We installed a second set of benches in a nearby park at the same time, Kaleidoscope Park.
We did the mosaic for both sets of benches in the studio and then they were picked up and installed on site. More on that next.