Envisioning the Quake Mosaic

In these four images below, you can see how the mosaic design has started to come to life.

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Above: The original Quake Mosaic Design, which I gridded out and printed to scale onto 406 separate 11” x 17” sheets of paper. Then in community workshops, each artist was given one random paper ‘section’ and asked follow the colors indicated (ie, blue area on the paper = mosaic material in any blue they like). There were only two exceptions: the gray stripes in the design indicated not gray mosaic but ‘anything goes’ areas - to be filled with any mosaic donations the artist wanted; and the white circle areas were to be filled with broken mirror shards. Other than that, the rest of the decisions were up to each artist.

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Above: The Quake Mosaic Schematic. Here is the design gridded into the 406 equal sections. I printed each section onto 11” x 17” sheets with the help of Frye’s Printing. I posted this schematic at every mosaic workshop. When an artist finished their 11” x 17” section, they would place an ‘X’ over it.

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Above: All of the finished mosaic sections (about 390), digitally laid out on the design grid. There are still about 20 sections left to be built.

Above: Showing the design underneath the completed sections, we can imaging what the Quake Mosaic might look like once it is completed and installed.

Cal Poly + GSM Landscape Architects

Since 2016, Gretchen Stranzl McCaan of GSM Landscape Architecture, Inc. has been an invaluable project partner. For two semesters, she has utilized the Quake Mosaic as a ‘real world’ assignment to her advanced landscape architecture students at Cal Poly. We made this video to introduce the potential ‘site’ to the students. The area is owned by Zapolski Real Estate and is planned to be developed as part of First Street Napa, an outdoor shopping mall in downtown Napa.

This time, her entire Spring 2020 class travelled to Napa from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to see the site and hear about the project in person. In March 2020, Kristina also travelled to Cal Poly to review the final student presentations along with Vin Smith from the City of Napa.

Quake n Make, Take One!

Thanks to all the folks who came out for our first ‘Quake n Make” event at the beautiful and funky Studio at Feast it Forward! We had such a great time with all of you. Thanks to the attendees, volunteers, our generous local supply sponsor, Napa Valley Art Supplies, and the awesome help of Ann Trinca, we raised some funds for the project AND made 20 beautiful stepping stones for the garden area that will surround the Quake Mosaic installation.

Check out the beautiful photos below, all by Ann Trinca.

Studio Workshops

Been busy in the studio with weekly workshops for groups of folks coming out to help with the Quake Mosaic. Here are some shots of some of the creative volunteers who've contributed in the last month:

Napa Artist, Kate Salenfriend, who completed several sections with her son, Quinn

Napa Artist, Kate Salenfriend, who completed several sections with her son, Quinn

Napa native, Ila Pearl, smashing some beautiful yellow tile seconds, donated to the project by Heath Ceramics 

Napa native, Ila Pearl, smashing some beautiful yellow tile seconds, donated to the project by Heath Ceramics 

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Up and coming artists, Quincy and Abby, from TeensConnect

All the finished work, gorgeous!! Getting so excited to see this mosaic installed! 

All the finished work, gorgeous!! Getting so excited to see this mosaic installed!

 

Star Volunteer Spotlight

The community response to the Napa Quake Mosaic has been phenomenal in so many ways! I am beyond grateful to so many people who have helped bring this project to life. Here are just a few of the incredible folks who've made this project happen:

Giada and Lori Parise: This mom-daughter powerhouse team has been helping all summer with all the studio work!

Giada and Lori Parise: This mom-daughter powerhouse team has been helping all summer with all the studio work!

Jeni Olson, founder of TeensConnect, not only sorts the brown treasures at the studio, but organizes teen meet-ups for groups of youth to come work on the project as well  

Jeni Olson, founder of TeensConnect, not only sorts the brown treasures at the studio, but organizes teen meet-ups for groups of youth to come work on the project as well  

And the Paulas, pictured here with the CIA students who created a dish inspired by the Quake Mosaic: Paula Brutocao (L) and Paula Philipps (R), who have both been AMAZING regular volunteers and generous supporters

And the Paulas, pictured here with the CIA students who created a dish inspired by the Quake Mosaic: Paula Brutocao (L) and Paula Philipps (R), who have both been AMAZING regular volunteers and generous supporters

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Anne Pentland, one of the super talented artists and teachers at Nimbus, who has helped manage the public workshops. Her community-built mosaic experience and technical advice has been instrumental! There, but not pictured, the rest of amazing ladies of Nimbus, Sandra Cruz and Jamie Graff