Messina Mural Project progress - all finished!

The Messina Mural Project is officially installed! Although the project seems rather small, it was a lot of work! I have a new appreciation for artists like Isaiah Zagar who create large scale murals on a regular basis. It must take a small army of helpers! All I had was my teenage son who was less than enthusiastic about the process.

© Eve Lynch, 2011

The remainder of the artist name tags were installed under each mosaic and artist Lynn Dubnicka's mosaic fish were added to the outdoor gallery wall. 

Mosaic fish © Lynn Dubnicka

© Eve Lynch

It was a beautiful day and everything went smoothly except for a small invasion of love bugs. The critters were into everything including my water bucket, grout pail and a few pairs were even getting stuck into the mastic as I was applying the name tags!

If you've never driven through Southwest Florida in May, you probably have no idea how annoying "love bugs" can be. The front of some vehicles are completely covered with the squashed critters. Luckily they weren't out in force.

FYI...

• The local paper may be doing a story about the project - I'll keep everyone posted.

• I am going to set up a mini blog for the project that will include ALL of the photos that I took over the course of the project and I will include links to the participating artists' website.

Stay tuned!!

WASTE LAND - garbage, art and inspiration

I caught the end of a really great movie last night after the Obama "caught" Osama news brief was over...

Waste Land, a documentary about a Brazilian artist and his inspiring idea to create "mosaics" out of garbage, caught me by surprise.

First off, I was shocked by the footage of these people digging through filthy mounds of ragged garbage.

It was obvious that it was a terrible way to make a living but I was inspired by how humble that they all were to be able to be doing it...even if it meant fighting their way through piles of trash just to make $25 a day.

The footage made me think twice about what I am actually putting into my garbage can!

Secondly, the movie spoke volumes about the sheer power of art. The artist, Vik Muniz, photographed a handful of the garbage dump workers and then created massive portraits from the photos using the refuse and recyclables as his tesserae.

I found this part really interesting because I could correlate his work with mine. With all mosaic work really, only Vik's materials were more avant garde.

A dirty, crumpled plastic bottle began to shine when combined with many more dirty, crumpled bottles. Soda caps, old shoes, plastic...even dirt and dust formed the basis for his portraits. The finished pieces were very Jason Mecier, but even more interesting because of the back story.

This film really reminded me to dream big and to appreciate the fact that art can be a powerful vehicle for change. It's definitely a must see.



Watch the Trailer

View the Gallery