Lily Pond Mosaic Project Wrap-Up

Booker T. Frog finally has a permanent home! The week of April 27, Karen Rycheck and I did the installation of the project that was initiated back last summer! It was an exciting adventure that had us working remotely on design, together in studios in Bend and Hillsboro, and apart in our respective Hillsboro and Talent studios.  In addition to designing and fabricating the mosaic lily pond, we had the fun challenge of creating a sculptural rock pedestal for the bronze frog to sit on. The planter bed that the whole thing is sited in has a 10 degree slope, so the challenge continued in preparing the pedestal with the proper slope so we'd end up with a level platform for Mr. Frog. To help us achieve this, and to make sure we could install the bronze frog securely into the substrate, we engaged the services of Tim Gabriel, metal artist extraordinaire! He prepared the sculpture with brass threaded rods for installation, and led the install on the concrete pad. We couldn't have done it without him!

We also engaged the talents of our glass artist colleague JoAnn Wellner in the project. We had her create a fused glass dragonfly to include in our mosaic, and also she made us some fused glass eyes for the tadpoles and turtle. They are tiny little bits, but essential to giving proper character to our little critters that are "swimming" in the "pond."

Overall, this project turned out great! We are pleased, the library staff are ecstatic, and we had immediate positive feedback from library patrons who make a steady stream through the entry plaza. It was especially rewarding to us, as artists who like to incorporate educational elements into our public work, when we heard a mom explain to her child, "See the tadpoles? They are baby frogs. When they  grow up, they become just like this big frog sitting on the rock!" Just what Karen hoped for when she designed the cute little tadpoles into the mosaic!