The Making of a Community Mural Project

Here is the making of our first community mosaic mural project! We had 36 volunteers come to our studio to learn how to use basic tools to shape glass and how to arrange it into a pattern at no cost to them.  I precut all the glass for the volunteers to work with and they each got to build a section of the mural with my help and guidance.

Clockwise from the top: Kyle, Eva, Sam, Bryce and Emily

In total there were 93 sections that made up the finished design.  In addition to the volunteers, Kyle and I got to create many of the sections of the project.  Once all the pieces were ready, Kyle and I glued them on the the custom substrate Kyle built.  Then we grouted and installed it into the steal frame and finally onto the building.

From the Left: Emily, Jeff, Me giving a demo and Kelsey. 

In these photos you can see our volunteers diligently working in our studio as well as us getting the mosaic ready for installation. For more photos, take a look our project photo album here: Community Mural Project

Jeff and Hollie adding their sections to the layout - almost ready for gluing!

Gluing the mural, one section at a time.

Creating a map of who created which section so the volunteers can easily locate their pieces. 

Peeling the tape after the adhesive dried. 

Cleaning the glass prior to grouting. 

Grouting the mosaic. 

Close up. Grouting with epoxy grout is a little bit more work than the standard grout but its perfect for the outdoors!

Polishing the grouted mosaic. 

Close up of the signature plaque for the mural. 

We even made the paper! To read the full article, click Community Comes Together to Construct a Mural