Do you think there are some themes that can be expressed more successfully in mosaic than any other medium? I don’t think that a theme can be expressed more successfully in mosaic, but it can be better enhanced with it.
city members, who found and liked my work on the internet. He asked me to participate in this competition, and I did. There is a lot of research that you need to do, and of course you need to prepare for many presentations. Then you have to create a design that hopefully will get accepted by the city members. It is the artist, his history and commitments, his techniques and materials, that make the project an everlasting one, as well as the creativity of the design.
What were the challenges you faced in creating this kind of public artwork? This project was the largest mural I had ever done. I also wanted to create something different, with a bas-relief frame that surrounded the actual scene of the emigrants. There was a lot of research I had to do, and studies with museum directors and historians from Temecula. So many small things that I had no idea about, and I was happy to learn. It was worth the challenge. The hardest thing of all was the passing of my dad a couple of months after the signing of the contract. He was with me when I did my Serapias Vomeracea presentations, and from day one he told me:” You will win the project, I can tell from their eyes.” I You have received commissions to create a number of mosaics as public art installations. One of these was for the new Civic Center in Old Town, Temecula, CA, called “The Emigrant Trail.” How were you awarded this project? I love to enter public art projects. I love the feeling of the competition. I received a call from one of the couldn’t work on the project for a couple of months afterwards. Every time I wanted to touch my tools I remembered him, started crying and couldn’t see a thing. But I’m happy that at least he knew, before he left us, that I got it.