Hello Loves!
I will be out front of GK Pastry this Friday night starting at 6 pm to show off my latest mural and my first collaboration with Arts Los Altos! Please stop by and say hello! This mural was inspired by the sublime pastry paintings of Wayne Thiebaut. If you haven’t visited yet, I recommend putting GK Pastry on your food map. They use their delicious sourdough as a base for their hearty foccacia. I tasted all their varieties during my lunch hour on painting days, but I will need another full tasting panel before I make my final decision on which one is my favorite…
Penguin Mosaic at Murdock-Portal Elementary
I recently completed my first mosaic with my partner, Greg, at Murdoch-Portal Elementary. The principal, Alison Luvara, reached out to me last fall about creating commemorative artwork for the school’s 30 year anniversary. I worked with Alison on mural projects at Stocklmeir Elementary School for a series of panda murals in 2017 and four “kindness themed” ball walls in 2019, as well as a series of penguin murals at Murdock-Portal in 2023, where she has been the principal for the last 5 years. (At Murdock-Portal, their mascot is the penguin. They take it a step further, and each grade is represented by a different species, which was depicted in the class murals I painted.) The previous collaborations positioned us to take an even bigger leap together. 30 years is a big landmark, and they had raised a substantial budget for the artwork. However, their campus architecture and layout does not offer large, prominent wall spaces that would be well-suited for mural art.
I have been pulling Greg into projects with me to help me with base coating and heavy lifting since the Diridon Station ceiling renovation project, but his real passion lies in ceramics. He has been nudging me towards mosaics, pointing to all the creative possibilities and applications, but it wasn’t until I was brainstorming ideas for Murdock-Portal that a mosaic became the obvious best choice.
Mosaics are a substantially larger investment than murals, and for good reason. The raw materials are more expensive than paint, the process of making tiles is extremely time consuming, including a delicate firing process during which some amount of failure is expected, even among the most experienced of ceramicists. The assembly and install is tricky and labor intensive. The work is full of dust and sliced fingers and logistical mayhem, but, after the dust settled and the cuts have all healed, I have concluded: I LOVED IT and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT. The final work of art exceeded my expectations, and I am so glad, because mosaics are incredibly durable and this work of art will definitely be there as long as the school wants it there.
I particularly enjoyed the time in the studio making the custom pieces. We worked out of a private ceramics studio nestled deep in the Santa Cruz mountains, a creative space that reminded me of Pippi Longstocking’s house, with creatives flowing in and out working on various applied arts throughout the property. We would arrive in the morning with full bellies and hot beverages in hand, first clearing off the tables of weird/playful/sublime creations left on display from the artisans that had been dabbling away in the wee hours the night before. Then we’d put on music with space and depth, roll up our sleeves and tuck into the work of creating our own weird/playful/sublime…penguins.
Our time was spent slabbing, cutting, shaping, then sanding, wiping, glazing as the days flew by. Master teacher for so many Santa Cruz ceramicists, and now our dear friend, Travis, would float by every once in awhile offering Yoda-level suggestions. A lightbulb of understanding would cascade over me and carry me off to a whole new adventure. There was no hurry, just absorption, punctuated by tea time in the garden where we took our time to enjoy the abundance of creative ideas around us. It might be the closest I ever get to an art school experience.
After making the custom pieces in the studio, we assembled the mosaic by sections in my home studio. The outside frame and penguins went up first, then working top to bottom, the smaller sections of mosaic were assembled offsite. During the many months we spent working on this project (patience, Morgan!) Greg and I found our creative footing together. My twenty-five years of experience as a professional artist has earned me oodles of creative confidence, but when it comes to a mosaic, I was in an entirely new pond. Greg brought the technical know-how with his ceramics experience, his skills with careful research (who knew grog content, firing temperatures and slabbing techniques would be worthy of hour-long conversations and Reddit rabbit holes), and the strength for hauling sacks of cement and jackhammering the brick facing off the wall (for example). Greg’s long career coordinating humanitarian relief in disaster zones around the world showed through, as he navigated the project’s complicated logistics, long hours, and local dictator – I mean “Lead Artist,” as Ix liked to refer to myself – with calm, finesse, and pastry bribes. Ever the diplomat.
Being a beginner is not easy! A handful of experienced artisans came to our aid to make this project a success including: Travis Adams of Santa Cruz Clay, seasoned mosaic artist Kathleen Crocetti (who also shared her best “piecer team” with us: Thank you Bella, Paula, Jessica and Melissa!), Ramales plastering who built for us a solid foundation, and Mario Cubias who guided us through the installation, grouting and sealing.
An extra special thank-you is in order for Alison Luvara, the Murdoch-Portal principal, for leading this project on behalf of her school community. She provided us with copious amounts of trust and patience as well as spending many of her Saturday mornings meeting us on campus so we could work our artful chaos outside of school hours. Alison, thank you for taking another creative leap with me!
With love and gratitude,
