custom art | John Hiemstra, scenic artist

Public art | Cesar Chavez tile mosaic mural #2

John — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:37:34 +0000

Here is the second eight-foot tile mosaic panel from the Trolley Station public art project in San Diego. These long horizontal narratives depict the life story of Cesar Chavez, as well as the historic conditions and context of his emergence as a seminal leader of the 20th century civil rights movement in America.

This series of posts shows a photo of the finished tile mosaicc installation on top, and the approved scale rendering with defining text from the original design process below.

Public art | Cesar Chavez tile mosaic mural #1

John — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:06:13 +0000

Getting back to documenting my largest public art project in San Diego (again), I’ve made some composite images that I’ve not published before. These files show my final approved design renderings for each of the fourteen individual tile mosaics I designed in 2004/2005 as part of the NEA funded public art project at the 25th and Commercial Street Trolley Station together with photos of the finished installation.

There are two separate (but related) series of mosaics that focus on two aspects of the life of Cesar Chavez and fit the two styles of benches installed on the station platforms. The six eight-foot long curved benches narrate the life of Cesar Chavez and establish both history and context for his place in American history as a leader of the 20th century civil rights movement.

These designs were developed with the input and approval of many community groups and local government agencies in San Diego, including the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the San Diego Regional Transit Authority. A brief description of the events depicted follows underneath the rendering.

Trolley Station public art | Cesar Chavez narrative tile mosaic murals

John — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:32:35 +0000

This is an overview shot of one half of the tile mosaic installation I created for the 25th & Commercial Trolley Station public art project in San Diego.

Set in to custom made concrete benches, there are a total of 14 different mosaic designs in this picture of the eastbound trolley platform; the designs are repeated on the westbound for a total of 28 unique mosaics covering over 200 square feet of surface area.

Cesar Chavez tile mosaic installation

John — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:45:33 +0000

I’ve had a few requests for more pictures of the Cesar Chavez Trolley Station public art project I did a few years ago in San Diego, so I thought I ‘d segue into that from the bio pictures I posted last week on my birthday with this shot of me finding a missing piece during the actual setting of the tiles on the benches.

I created these mosaics directly onto a mesh netting which allowed them to each be set as one full image. The setting and grouting was expertly done by Dan Diaz Tile of San Diego, who also advised me on best practices for getting the mosaics from my full size drawing boards into a sensible installation format.

Benchmark Project Installation, 2003

John — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:38:45 +0000

Immediately after my “Three Graces Bench” was installed at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego for the Benchmark Project (before, during and after the 2003 Super Bowl).

I’ve never published this one, even though its great for scale, probably because of the look on my face. I’d been up for a couple of days finishing the thing, not just detail but clear coating for exterior location, too.

Chalk painting San Diego, 2002

John — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:25:59 +0000

I’ve always liked this picture from the very first day of chalk painting I ever did, back when the annual chalk painting event in Little Italy was called Chalk La Strada and lots of skilled artists came out to have a go.

Predictably, I didn’t screw around much my first time, taking on a Botticelli Madonna and generating a full size drawing on paper ahead of time (9′ x 12′) and creating a pounce to transfer the drawing to my chunk of pavement in the original production style of Renaissance Italian fresco murals. Perfecting the drawing beforehand and simply transferring it to its final surface is a particular kind of time saver, like when your fresco plaster is setting up or when the chalk festival only runs two days– its what makes chalk painting a performance art more than anything else.

This photo was taken not quite half way through the first day, with the complete outline visible in white.

Scene painting in San Diego ten years ago

John — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:12:00 +0000

Because its my birthday (and because I’ve a backlog of pictures sorted from the raw archives), I thought I’d put up a few historical shots of me working on different stuff that very few people have seen before.
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This shot is from the year 2000 (I think), shortly after I hemorrhaged out of the San Diego Opera paint shop. Heather and I were subletting space in the brick building on 10th Street in East Village San Diego that is now Cowboy Star
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Heather was working metal and the shop was a metal shop, so I had my screened in area to keep (some of the) dust out to paint in all by myself, except that it was loud as fuck in there. I did a series of smallish backdrops like these for parties, a trade show booth and a couple of smaller San Diego theater companies.

Molds for precast concrete | corinthian capital

John — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:43:35 +0000

Here’s a shot of the urethane jacket of the oversize corinthian capital mold, freshly removed from its first GFRC pour, standing on the pallet behind.

To the left, the crew is unbolting the rigid exterior mother mold from the second half of the capital to reveal its first pour– always a moment of truth!

Design sketches and sources | circus room

John — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:42:37 +0000

I’m posting a few of the different design pieces I worked up on the way to the cirus themed kids’ playroom I’ve been recently documenting in my murals and faux galleries.

This is quick paste-up of the jpegs I sent around to the designer and client during the design process, from source pictures I found to guide me to my own scaled design sketches for both the final trompe l’oeil layout (the monkey was added on later) and the circus wagon cabinet created by woodworker Del Cover.

Design sketches | circus room

John — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:16:57 +0000

I’m posting a few of the different design pieces I worked up on the way to the cirus themed kids’ playroom I’ve been recently documenting in my murals and faux galleries.

This is the initial concept sketch for the circus tent wall finish and trompe l’oeil hero wall.