Two new art installations at Texas A&M San Antonio are grabbing attention.They are the work of mosaic and concrete artist Oscar Alvarado.The first is the ceremonial garden in front of the central teaching building.
“The mosaic of the presidential seal in the very center of the campus, which is their traditional ceremony at graduation, allows them to walk through it and take selfies,” Alvarado said.
If you think the seal is a few years old, you’re not wrong, but you’re not quite right either.Alvarado is a substitute.
“The university had mosaics there before, but there were some failures. It broke. It started to separate from the surface,” he said.
“We found the problem. We plugged the hole, we put it in a break-resistant moisture barrier, and then we placed our mosaic,” Alvarado said.”Most importantly, I believe it will continue.”
The next recently completed mosaic is an unrelated 14 x 17 foot mosaic wall in the Classroom Lobby building.
“They wanted it to be river-themed. So after playing around with the design a lot, I basically came up with a map of Bexar County, a modified satellite view where I greatly enhanced the creeks and rivers,” he said. Say.
Streams and rivers flow from northwest to southeast before leaving the county, creating a mosaic.
He did not build art in the final resting place.In fact, the method he used to create the giant mosaic is very detailed.
“What I did was make a 14′ by 17′ easel in my studio. I reproduced the full size of the image. I also made the scaffolding that hung from the roof ceiling so I could climb on it higher sections,” he said.”Then most importantly, I put a fiberglass mesh and glue the tiles to the fiberglass one at a time.”
“So the grid was cut through the gaps in the tiles and basically became a puzzle. I numbered the parts, then stacked them and reassembled them one at a time on site,” Alvarado said.
“Also, I’ve placed about 30 1-inch by 1-inch gold bricks anywhere in the city where there is public art,” he said.
Alvarado’s work is mostly public art, not behind the walls of museums, so you can see most of it…if you know where to look.
Post time: Jul-28-2022