colette crutcher
artwork made by hand
Good Prospect Mural Proposal
As a longtime Bernal Heights artist, I would be proud to create a dramatic and beautiful gateway to our neighborhood.
Cortland Avenue Garden Entry
My concept is to create tile art, not for the entire Cortland Ave wall, but to cover approximately 14 feet on either side of the entrance.
Stairway
The stair risers will be tiled, partly with square commercial tiles, and in the central area, with handmade art tile lettering welcoming the public to the garden.
Art tiles representing plant growth form a pyramid shape leading up to the lettering.
These tiles will be made using a sgraffito technique (see example below from my work at the Randall Museum)
Sun and Moon Mosaics
A sun and moon, each partially obscured by San Francisco fog, flank the entrance, continuing on the inner facing walls. The moon frames an area of small star tiles created during a community workshop (even small kids can do this using a cookie cutter).
The outer edges of the tile areas are embraced by an array of small handmade tiles created during the workshop(s) and glazed by the artist to achieve a subtle rainbow. The rainbow areas will be interspersed with artist-made tiles sponsored by donors to the project. On the sun side, these tiles will represent plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables. on the moon side, creatures of the garden—insects, birds, worms, snails slugs, butterflies etc.
Detail of tiled wall created in collaboration with Aileen Barr and the children of Visitacion Valley Elementary School, 2019. The rainbow area would use a similar approach.
Community Participation
My preferred way of working, for a community project, is to focus on designing and fabricating site-specific artwork and involving the community in hands-on workshops to fabricate tiles that will be permanently incorporated into the finished work.
I would suggest two or three community events. One would be an artist presentation describing my past works and my approach to design and fabrication, including the creation of handmade ceramic tiles and mosaic techniques. The other one or two would be ceramics workshops, geared to all ages, ideally held in the library’s community room, though other venues such as BH Neighborhood Center, Paul Revere or Junipero Serra Schools, St Kevin’s. or even Progressive Grounds Cafe are also possibilities.