On July 1 and 2, the public was invited to create mosaic butterflies for the Metamorphosis community mosaic mural at the Olympia Armory. This event was one of the first in a series funded by a significant grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Other art events will take place through the month of July at the Armory.
The purpose of the grant is to create arts experiences for the public using the Armory space in order to assess the potential use of this space as a community art center, along with understanding the upgrades that will need to take place in coming years in order to make the most of this wonderful building. I was one of several artists and organizations selected for art interventions.
I was given July 1 and 2 as my dates, and the massive Drill Hall as my allotted space. I sought to engage as many people as possible within this time frame. I had less than a month to plan and prepare for this event, so I spent most of June assembling butterfly templates and organizing materials in order to make the project as simple and seamless as humanly possible. I wanted to offer the project with no cutting or gluing and with almost zero waste. So, I came up with a plan to have participants stick glass pieces to the sticky side of stucco mesh over a butterfly cartoon. This holds the mosaic together just long enough to get it back to my studio, where I’ll apply thinset to the back, binding the glass to the mesh.
Over the course of two days, over 100 people participated in the butterfly-making event and 85 butterflies were completed, and will be added to the mural. Here’s a link to a little video collage I made: https://youtu.be/v06FDY634Qg
I will be on hiatus through the month of July, returning in August. I’ll put out announcements for a number of work parties to get all of these butterflies prepped for installation. On August 19, I will be at Westside Central Park having participants fill in the green chrysalis for the central figure. And in September, we’ll be installing and I hope to get a lot of volunteer help so it is easy and fast. I plan to create an organizational system where you can sign up for these events…as soon as I get my act together!
