HARRIS COUNTY - HOUSTON SPORTS AUTHORITY
MOSAIC TILE ARTWORK
HCHSA celebrates its 25th anniversary by unveiling a public art fountain mural in Houston’s Downtown GreenStreet honoring local sports legends.
Client
Harris County - Houston Sports Authority
Product
Mosaic Tile Illustrations
Role
Freelance Artist
Time
Aug 2022 - Sep 2022
OVERVIEW
Sponsored through the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority, (HCHSA) I collaborated with University of Houston Art students to create mosaic tile artworks. This public artwork fountain project is dedicated to honoring Houston Sports Hall of Fame inductees and celebrating HCHSA’s 25th Anniversary!
Under the artistic direction of sports artist Opie Otterstad, I worked on several pieces that were installed on the Downtown Houston - GreenStreet fountain..
The grand reveal was made public on September 29th, 2022 as the HCHSA announced Houston Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023 Inductees.
Check out my short blog post here!
I was not supposed to be on this project.
As a student of the College of Technology (formerly, now recognized as the Technology Division of the Cullen College of Engineering) at the University of Houston, this project was only being offered to Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts students.
Thankfully, I was able to prove my eagerness to be a part of the project and reflect my artistic capabilities within my portfolio, both digitally and traditionally. Once I was accepted, I would select work hours I could manage outside of college classes and extracurricular activities.
PROCESS
Once we all had an “orientation” and a breakdown of the project plans, we jumped straight to work.
Because of the quick turnaround time of about a month for more than 16 pieces, the pieces’ canvas was prepared for the art students to come in and place mosaic tiles. The art director prepared large foamboard-like bases, with large printouts of the athlete’s image and a grid perfectly sized at 1cm per square.
Our canvas layers, from top to bottom:
✦ Mosaic tiles
✦ Electric taped edge around the canvas
✦ Double-sided tape to hold the tiles’ scored backsides
✦ Printout alignment guide
✦ Foamboard base
“We used over 1,000,000 tiles.”
Challenges → Solutions
✦ No experience → New perspective
I had never used mosaic tiles in my life before, but I soon realized neither did any of the other freelancers. I realized quickly that the mosaic tiles are just a traditional version of pixel art, that I’ve utilized throughout my childhood as it was my introduction to digital art over a decade ago. (Thank you, Pokemon!)
✦ Tight deadline → Sharing pieces between team members
Because there was no room for changes, the deadline was quickly approaching as we took different shifts to come work on the pieces. The teams realized quickly that finishing the pieces was the priority over getting to finish a particular part they had claimed - so we all communicated goals for each work day to pace ourselves, picking up where another team member left off on another shift to keep the ball rolling.
✦ Disagreements with Team Members → Gained experience in solving conflicts with communication
When I was permitted to illustrate the portraiture of George Foreman (faces were originally restricted to the Art DIrector only) I ran into a problem with a team member as we were using different tones, so as we worked and met each other in the middle, it clashed. After discussing why we thought our methods were more beneficial, we ultimately discussed them with the Art Director. Ultimately, finding a middle ground on what we believe works best for the project’s end goal over our personal opinions.
TAKEAWAYS
Working on the mosaic tile project was very rewarding. I got to be a part of a big celebration that impacted the local community and honored sports legends for their excellence. I was so honored to be a part of bringing this vision to life and I can’t wait to bring my family back to view the public monument many years in the future.
I learned so much from being a part of this project:
✦ Collaborating closely with team members to create a cohesive result
✦ Real-world application of communication, project management, and time management as a team
✦ Taking on a new challenge will pay off if you work hard
✦ Parking in downtown garages is more expensive than I initially thought…
Tools Used:
✦ 1cm glass mosaic tiles
✦ Grouting concrete
Final product installed by professionals
Thanks for reading!
Thank you to:
✦ Opie Otterstad, our wonderful art director!
✦ Patti Smith, for encouraging me every step
