Client: City of San Antonio Housing Authority

Overview

This was an outdoor mosaic art and mural project. It’s a 10 feet X 10 feet piece colorfully designed; and created with mosaic, ceramic and glass tiles and mounted on the side of a wall inside a newly constructed Apartment Complex.

Goals

The goal of the project was use the art piece as a visual story which documents the history and struggles of the citizens of South San Antonio and their quest to achieve a better life through education, corporation and dedication to affordable green living spaces.

Process

The collaboration process started with the Contractor of the project Elios Rios traveling to Houston to find us; as the meticulous and fine skills required for this project remains rare. We dedicated hours and then weeks re-designing and refining the concept until the clients (City of San Antonio) loved and approved the final rendition. Following approval, we ordered all the materials and proceeded to start work in our studio in Houston. We blew up the design and went to cut every single piece of the thousands of tiles into a particular precise shape and color to capture the widest range of colors and values necessary for the work. We assemble and completed the piece in Houston and had it shipped to San Antonio and had our Contractor install it on the site. Then we worked using scaffolding and scissor lift to complete with grout, sanding, sponging, cleaning and preservation work.

Additional Information

We told the then Mayor of San Antonio Julian Castro, that this piece will outlive the life-span of the Housing complex and that it’s future may end up in the Museum because of the quality of materials, the durability of construction and the beauty of the art. I remain proud how it’s become one of the artistic highlights of that part of San Antonio.