• Home
  • Home
HomeVallejo is ‘out on the tiles’ with artwork – Times ...
Previous Next

Vallejo is ‘out on the tiles’ with artwork – Times-Herald

Posted by: admin , December 5, 2020


Sarah Nichols wasn’t glittering with gold on Friday afternoon, but she was pretty happy that Vallejo was buying a heavenly stairway.

Nichols was one of a few people on hand at Mare Island on Friday afternoon as a COVID-19 restricted celebration was held to preview the Capitol Stairs art tiles.

Vallejo’s 100-year-old Capitol Street Stairs climb the hill from downtown to Vallejo’s Historic District. This city-owned site will become a colorful destination with art tiles installed on 52 risers on the two flights of stairs. So far there are 11 risers and three benches still to be purchased. They are selling for $1,000 each, while benches are selling for $5,000 so the event also served as a fundraiser.

The USS California is one of several ships featured in the Capitol Stairs mosaic mural created by artists Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher. (Chris Riley–Times-Herald)

The first riser (the one at the bottom of the staircase) has been purchased by Judith Hilburg, while the top riser (at the top of the staircase) has been bought by Obtainium Works. Other risers have been purchased by the Vallejo Rotary Club, Buck Kamphausen, David Chapman, Jack Anthony, VCAF, Regency Inn, Crown Hill Materials as well as Nichols. The Executive Lions Club has bought the only bench so far. U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson, as well as senators Bill Dodd and Tim Grayson also have bought a riser.

The first flight of stairs (26 risers) were on display in a room located off Nimitz Boulevard on Mare Island. As well as the tiles sparkling in different colors they also feature paintings of lost landmarks in Vallejo and Mare Island.

Nichols saw the finished tiles put together for the first time two months ago, and was astonished.

“Oh my gosh, when I first saw it all I could think was that we did the right thing,” Nichols said. “It took longer than we thought it would, but some things are worth waiting for. We have taken on the theme of “from blight to beauty, one step at a time.”

Robin Gross, the community event planner, said, “Seeing is believing! The tiles are beautiful! They will contribute to the fabric our diverse community.”

Funding for this effort brings together the City of Vallejo’s innovative Participatory Budgeting Program, Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District funds, community donations, and hundreds of volunteer hours.

Ken Mullen with the Vallejo Community Arts Foundation reaches to touch one of the mosaic pieces that make up the Capitol Stairs mural. (Chris Riley–Times-Herald)

If one thinks the tiles and the project itself is very similar to the stairs located off 16th Avenue in the Sunset District in San Francisco, it’s because the it features the same two artists — Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher.

“We did an international call for artists and we ended up having three finalists,” Nichols said. “The person that actually won had to drop out and cancel, so we went with the second-place finisher, but we’re so glad it turned out this way. We got lucky that we used their idea.”

Nichols said that each person in the contest was given directions, narratives and themes. The artists had to give their story board/sketches to be seen, but Nichols said in the end they were chosen mostly because of their great work on the 16th Avenue stairs in San Francisco.

Barr said that herself and Crutcher usually work together, but due to COVID-19 they worked separately once they began the project in April.

“We were given historical photos and we drew our sketches from those,” Barr said. “We divided up the drawings in half, but there was no order to how we divided them up. Some time a tile will take up a couple flights of stairs, while some are smaller.”

Barr said after they made the sketches they would then trace them on to prepared pieces of clay that had a black slip. They would then use a carving tool to carve through the black clay.

“Each tile took a different amount of time, but on average each would take as much as two to three days,” Barr said. “It all depends on the tile. Sometimes the tile would break and we’d have to start over.”

Barr said she lives close to the 16th Avenue stairs in San Francisco and would go there a few times a year (usually when relatives came visiting) for inspiration or just to fix tiles that had been broken.

Barr said she still hasn’t seen the finished project, but plans on coming to Mare Island soon to see it.

“This has been a wonderful project to work on, just because of the level of detail and when we did it,” Barr said. “It’s definitely going to bring back memories of 2020 whenever I will look at it, which hopefully goes in sometime during the spring.”

After all the tiles are put on the stairs, the next part of the project will be to clean up the area around the stairs and put in wildlife and trees that hummingbirds and butterflies are attractive to. Nichols said this will likely be a community project.

Nichols said the group is still looking for donations. Visit www.facebook.com/CapitolStairsMosaicProject/ for donations and other information.

The tiles will be on viewing display at 815 Nimitz Avenue on Mare Island (across from the coal sheds) tomorrow from 1 to 4 p.m. as well as Dec. 12, 13, 19 and 20 at the same time. Pandemic guidelines are in effect and one must wear a mask.

Private viewings are by appointment only. Call (707) 853-5655.

 

 



Source link

Share!
Tweet
Notice: Please check settings of Facebook API in Theme Options -> Advanced

admin

About the author

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Popular
Recent
  • Four vaccination centres temporarily closed due to ‘adverse weather conditions’

    January 23, 2021

    It was popularised in the 1960s

    January 21, 2013

    First drive review of the lighter, greener, faster car

    January 21, 2013
  • Four vaccination centres temporarily closed due to ...

    January 23, 2021

    Mega Millions jackpot won on a single ticket in Mi ...

    January 23, 2021

    Woman called police after missing McDonald’s ...

    January 23, 2021

Tag Cloud

Boris Cardiff care cases centre centres Christmas Coronavirus Council Covid Covid19 day days deaths England family government health hit home homes hospital Johnson lockdown Lorem mass NHS parts people Police rates rules schools Swansea time told travel vaccination vaccine Wales Warning Welsh Woman year years

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • January 2011

Custom text

Flickr photos

Contact Form


1+1=

Latest Tweets

  • Please set Twitter user name in jwTwitter widget

Partners

Copyright © 2021 Design by sihaneth.com