Metamorphosis Mural Dedication Saturday, October 7 at noon!
Watch a 3-minute video interview by Steve Bloom of The Olympian HERE.
October 3, 2023: I’ve been away to teach at conferences and now I’m scrambling to get ready for the dedication on Saturday. I managed to order a plaque while on the go and now I’m working to find a way to thank everyone who helped (while also creating a display for Hot Toddy.) One thing: I added the hashtag #MetamorphosisOly to the plaque and I’ve been trying to go through previous posts to add it so there will be a record showing how the mural was made, as well as a way for visitors to add their pictures to the record going forward. I feel like I’m making it all up on the fly and I hope everyone will forgive me if it’s just a simple event where we just do a little cheer and participants find their butterflies.
September 13, 2023: Hallelujah, all of the butterflies have been installed! On the 12th, a group of us gathered for the final installation session and set the last of the mosaic butterflies into mortar. I can hardly believe the outcome! It’s so beautiful! So many thanks to everyone who contributed along the way, from those who helped with planning (Anna Schlecht and Angel Nava) to those who made butterflies and prepped the butterflies and came from near and far to help with the installation, those who donated to the crowdfunding, to Pizza Time for feeding us and Lew Rents for providing a scissor lift… I will be making a new post soon to honor everyone who helped make this mural a reality.
Incidentally, the fundraiser is still active and is set to expire as of Arts Walk. I’m hoping that, now that people can see the plan manifested, more support will be forthcoming. I’ve had a ton of interest in more projects like this, but it was honestly a labor of love and not something I can afford to do regularly without patrons and funding. That said, I had an amazing experience facilitating this project. The response from participants was heartwarming and inspiring, and I made some connections that will enrich my life and art practice going forward. I’m still interested in developing a program that supports this type of work: engaging and beautifying the community through participatory mosaic projects. There is one more thing to be done: I’m hiring Austin Davis to paint milkweed plants on the sides of the mural. This will frame in the whole mural and tie in a little message about ecosystems.
Donations gratefully accepted: https://app.thefield.org/profile/Jennifer-Kuhns/635868
Thank you to our Donors:
Joan Pliska
Ruth Apter
Ruth Spiller
Stephanie
Kay Christy
Mickey Leonard
Maja Ballew
Kay Christy
Christina Hunter
Barbara Dybala
Irene Osborn
Terri Helm-Remund
Jeanne Saville
Kim Wozniak / Wits End Mosaic
Aya Kinoshita
Kay Christy
Lisa Bustamante
Alan Mountjoy-Venning
Adam Blodgett
Christi Churchill
Special thanks to :
Lew Rents for donating a scissor lift
Pizza Time for feeding the crew
Lloyd’s Automotive for hosting the mural
Anna Schlecht for EVERYTHING
The Making of a Mosaic Mural:
Christie, Me, Louise, Debi and Carol after installing the central figure. Jill also helped earlier in the day.
Sept. 1st: The central figure of the mural is on the wall! On August 30th, volunteers and I assembled the sections onto the wall in mortar. I had one hiccup in that I forgot to take the dark grey tint to color the thinset used to apply the wings. White thinset squished through into the interstices, and the wings were tile taped, and I had a meeting right after, so I left it for the night. I returned on the 31st and spent 5 hours scraping the thinset out, and Anna Schlecht helped. It was pretty grueling, so I am taking it easy at home on Sept. 1st. There are a ton of butterflies that need to be prepped, so that’s one of the things I’ll be working on today and between days I go to the mural site.
Aside from the thinset splooge issue, everything went very well. The sections fit together perfectly and volunteers made the job a lot easier. Grouting of the torso and wings is planned for Saturday 9/2 and we’ll be adding some butterflies on Sunday 9/3.
I had hoped to be finished by 9/10, but as I look at the calendar and the boxes of butterflies still waiting to be prepped, I realize that’s not going to be possible. I’m also finishing another community project, getting ready to teach at consecutive conferences the second half of September, and I’ll return with only a few days to put a show together at Hot Toddy for fall Arts Walk. So, there will likely be a “phase 2” in mid-October or even later in spring.
I’m trying to keep folks updates as well as I can, but it’s just me and I’m completely overwhelmed. I post on the facebook group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/736635894585768
Reminder: the mural site is on the back of Lloyd’s Automotive, 425 4th Ave. Downtown Olympia, WAhttp://47.0472812276329, -122.89929036264718
August Update: I’m back to work prepping the butterflies for installation, and I’ve had some amazing help from volunteers. So far, we have over 220 butterflies and about 2/3 are grouted and almost ready to install. I’m getting ready to take the big chrysalis section to West Central Park on Saturday Aug. 19, where people can add green tiles to the central figure of the mural. I don’t have a set schedule for installing the mural, but I’m planning for the first 2 weeks of Sept.
The Art Interventions event at the Olympia Armory the first weekend of July was a huge success with over 100 participants. I think about 85 butterflies were made over 2 days. I’m going to make a separate post for that event because this one is getting so full of information. That was the last public butterfly-making opportunity.
*If you are planning to send me a butterfly, please do so asap so I have time to make any adjustments. Any that arrive too late for the initial installation will be stored and I’ll get them added later – hopefully in October. It might even be possible to add more next summer because it’s a really big wall!
Divina and Preethie at the Butterfly-Making Intervention
I’ll be scheduling some focused hands-on events with individual groups in August as well as a few work-parties to prep the butterflies for installation. There will be an event on August 19 in West Central Park to make the big chrysalis where anyone can join in. In early September, I’ll be starting the mural install, and I’ll be putting a call out for helpers. All of the future events will be excellent learning opportunities for any aspiring mosaic artists.
By the second half of August, I’ll be prepping all of the butterflies, then starting the installation process in early September. I’ll need lots of help to get this part done, and it’s a really good opportunity to learn the nuts and bolts of exterior public art installation.
May 2023 Update: The mural launch was a hit! I took the scaled up wings to Olympia Spring Arts Walk on the last weekend in April and visitors added recycled glass tiles to contact paper over the templates. It was a beautiful weekend and everyone was very positive and excited to get involved. I made a little collage video of the process: https://youtu.be/BQMHsN5cOVA
Since I’m going to be the featured artist for Olympia’s fall Arts Walk festival, I wanted to create a community mural to culminate during the event. This mural will have a figure emerging from a chrysalis as the centerpiece, designed to be a photo-op where visitors can become part of the mural. The message is about transformation of societies and individuals, and support for becoming our most splendid, magnificent selves.
I have been awarded fiscal sponsorship by The Field NYC, an organization that accepts tax deductible donations to support individual artists through crowdfunding. https://app.thefield.org/home/donation/crowd/view/185/Community-Mural-Seed-Fund?fbclid=IwAR3SxFVp0vSdESPqL7jCtPfVuCc3ibTrDzbCfn2K5Aj_cE-9uhR6-ycjWRo
My hope is that the 501C3 status will encourage businesses to partner with me on this. In fact, for years, I’ve been wanting to establish a program for community art in the South Sound region. I’m getting ahead of myself, but I have a vision for the future that includes creating art for neighborhoods, schools and organizations through community engagement that will grow into a larger endeavor. Community art is empowering for the participants, brings people together across all barriers, and helps to beautify spaces. We can accomplish more with less resources by using this approach, and there is so much plain concrete all around us, I think we should be adding colorful art to as much of it as possible.
But for right now, I’m going to take a leap and get this one mural made. Suggestions and leads are very welcome.
Significance: I was recently asked to explain the message of this project, beyond the simple blurb about the beauty of diversity and personal expression. I sat down and wrote a blog post explaining why the answer is complex. Click the link below to read more: https://jenniferkuhnsmosaic.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-significance-of-metamorphosis.html
Stay Updated:
There is a group on facebook just for this project. Participants can post any questions or share their butterflies and I have been posting updates there. It’s a great way to share information. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/736635894585768
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