Client: Capital Caring

Location: Aldie, VA, United States

Completion date: 2014

Artwork budget: $155,000

Project Team

Artist

Karen Singer

Karen Singer Tileworks Inc.

Client

Steve Griffith

Capital Caring

Industry Resource

Todd Burgess

Presentations Arreya

Industry Resource

Rob Schlichter

STM Contractors, Inc.

Other

Carol Bates

Bates Photography

Overview

Donor Wall. Custom ceramic tile mural 18′ x 7′ in the form of a landscape tableau meant to symbolize a lifelong journey. Donor names are in the sky area and in side panels that continue the landscape image. Sprinkled within the mural are a number of recognizable local landscape elements as well as surprise details: insects, a bird’s nest, and other creatures to engage the attention of close viewers.

Goals

This entryway mural, in the first in-house hospice facility in Loudoun County, was commissioned by Capital Caring, a premier hospice and palliative care organization in the D.C. and Virginia area. It was conceived as a portrait of Capital Caring's mission, and was designed to resonate with meaning for patients, visitors and the donors who made it possible. The decision to commission an artist to create a "mission portrait" was integral to the planning of the entire facility. Its emphasis on state of the art hospice care involves care for the body, heart and soul and care for family members as well. There is artwork throughout the building and many spaces for contemplation including an on-site garden labyrinth that is also in the mural.

Process

The creation process involved considerable collaboration - primarily with the client's development staff, who used the mural design as an incentive for fundraising. Additional collaborators include the architect, Fred Ordway of Dewberry, and Todd Burgess of Presentations, Inc., who developed a companion video display piece and who came up with the idea for the continuous side panels. Other collaborative efforts included photographer Carol Bates of Bates Photography, Steve Griffith of Spike's Trophies who did the graphic elements, and the tilesetter, Rob Schlichter and his team, STM Contractors, who came down from Doylestown, PA to do the installation.