Description

This mosaic mural, entitled Kaleidoscope of Butterflies, is near and dear to the artist’s heart because it was designed and created especially for her home community, and located just a few blocks from her home and studio. To make this unique public art project possible, it took the artist 4 years to obtain design approval to proceed, 2 years of fund-raising, and 9 months of making. Even though private donations and special grants were raised for the project, the artwork was required to be categorized as a “donation” from the artist to the City. Ultimately, the mosaic mural is now included in the City of San Diego’s - Civic Art Collection, which is quite an honor for any living artist. The mural is a permanent installation that remains a legacy project for both the artist and her older urban community, where it radiates a splash of bright positivity, and offers a sense of joy!

The mural is made up of eleven freeform, abstracted, and interlocking butterfly wing designs that appear to be in flight and overlapping. This colorful project of dynamic and changing imagery, with no two butterfly wings alike, speaks to the significance of the life cycles of nature, humanity, diversity, and the vibrancy of the artist’s inner-city community. The colors are meant to be bold and vibrant speaking directly to the culture it represents! 

During the assembly and making of the mosaic, the artist made available both privately in her studio, and publicly at the Adams Avenue Street Fair, and other special events, as many hands-on of friends and community members to place tesserae into the designs. The artist brought #11 panel to the Adams Avenue Elementary School where every student in the school set tiles into the butterfly designs.

For public art projects like this, Kim Emerson typically works with the beautiful high-fired ceramic tile made by the former Quarry Tile Company, now Fire Clay Tile. First cut by hand on a wet-saw, then nipped further into smaller pieces, the tesserae was arranged dry into place with tweezers on tables in the artist’s studio. While assembling the butterfly shapes for each panel, the mosaics were temporarily segmented face-up with special clear tile-tape. The artist’s final approved design, originally a watercolor painting, was enlarged to a full-scale print on paper, also known as a mosaic cartoon. After many more steps, the taped and sectioned mosaics were adhered to cement backer board panels with thin-set and grout. The mosaic’d panels were delivered to the site and installed in one day, with a few consecutive days for details.