MOSAICS... they are my passion! When “The Falls” initially approached me, in April 2001, I was pleased to bid the mosaic wall for their south Miami location. I met with Michael Howard, the Facilities Director, and he showed me the site. I took some photos and measured the area. I also spent time walking the mall which is rather unusual with waterfalls and lush tropical landscaping throughout. I briefly met with the General Manager, Julie Goldman, and she expressed delight with my signature hand cut glass style mosaics. She had one of my business cards which has a photo of a mosaic set in this manner.
Michael asked for a preliminary bid, before the design phase, to make sure that we were both in line with the project budget. He also asked me to take into consideration that the mall intended to use this mosaic for marketing and that it would also be excellent exposure for my artwork. In reality I often have clients, which mention this before I give them a price. Exposure is important to any artist however, you must also keep your costs and integrity in line. I have often weighed the opportunity to create against the reality of paying the rent. My work is priced on square footage, materials, and design difficulty (time). I am aware that if a client wants a mosaic of hand cut marble tesserae and smalti that my time will be much more that if I am working with tiles. Hand cut glass is somewhere in the middle. The costs of the materials speak for themselves. After a bit of contemplation I emailed the preliminary bid to Michael. I gave a few options which were based on embellishing the entire surface or excluding the lower aprons of the wall. I felt that it was important to include the entire area however, I did not want to lose the project due to budgetary concerns.
I next heard from Michael three weeks later, when he called me to set up a meeting, which would include Julie Goldman and Danielle Spiegelman, the Marketing director. We met in mid June. At this meeting we discussed the design concept and I presented a contract which I had drawn up for commission work. We also discussed a time line of installation approximately twelve weeks after design approval. Julie was a very dynamic woman and really enjoyed interacting with the arts. She was clear that she wanted the design to be mine; though I also felt she wanted to be an integral part of the process.
We discussed the ambiance, colors and overall feel of the location. The area which would frame the mosaic was the “center court” of the complex. It is the location, which is used when they have special events; the fountain being the focal point of the mall. A temporary stage is also set on the highest level of the fountain to provide a space for entertainers. We discussed their desire for a focal point mosaic which would have coloration strong enough to hold its own in an area with lush tropical foliage and incredible natural beauty. The Falls is a special mall due to the fact that God’s elements have been used to create a very peaceful open-air shopping experience.
Although I often sketch at an initial meeting with a client, I was on overload at this point and really needed to get away to focus on a concept. We set a meeting for the end of the week when I would bring sketches and material samples. I initially drew a series of sketches which emulated the atmosphere of the complex. I felt that just by being set in a contemporary mosaic style it would be somewhat abstract. The original drawings were based on the theme of a “river of water” including some tropical birds and plants which were indigenous to south Florida. I made three different color designs and presented them in an overlay form with a foam core mounted drawing of the project area underneath. I also brought samples of the glass colors that I chose.
In the subsequent meeting Julie and Danielle expressed their desire to see a design which would be purely abstract in nature. Since we discussed this from a graphic arts standpoint I understood their view. I also had worked in graphic arts at one time and they were looking for something with dramatic impact. It is often difficult to impart the effect of a mosaic with a color drawing, as the medium is quite different, and a major part of the impact of my mosaics is their tactile quality and light reflection. I went back to the drawing board.
We all met in late August on site and I presented a 2' X 3' sample board with a section of the “Palm Sunset” mosaic. We went to the site, looked at the sample, and everyone was pleased with the style and glass. The architect did specify that he thought a higher percentage of dark wispy glass should be used nearer to the bottom in order to blend gracefully with the pre-existing tile work. The final contract was signed, the design was approved and I was on my way into fabrication. We also spoke about Michael weatherproofing the wall and framing in the sides with aluminum strips.
I started cutting crates of glass as it arrived in mid September. I set the initial installation date for early November. One of the glass colors specified was not in stock anywhere in the U.S. and the factory was late in running it. When I did finally receive it in mid-October there was too much white in its wispy pattern and I had to go to the distributor to hand select the sheets. As I was giving a mosaic tour in Italy in mid November I could see a problem looming with my time line. I could not reschedule the tour as my students had already purchased airline tickets. I met with Julie and Michael and we discussed the logistics of the installation date. They were going to put the stage onto the fountain area in mid November for their holiday presentations and this would get in the way of the installation. We agreed to install the week of December 2nd using the installation as an “artist at work” show and work around the holidays. I worked on setting the mosaic in an indirect manner in my studio until I left in November, with the mosaic almost ready to install upon my return.
