The Piece 24 Project is a two-part collaborative, monumental public art project produced by 29 Pieces and Craig Schenkel Real Estate and aims to spread the message of a “viral influence” that inspires people to choose to be contagions of respect and compassion for all living things. The inspiration for the Piece 24 sculpture is the American Indian quote, “Make my hands respect the things you have made,” from the passage, Let me Walk in Beauty.
Piece 24: Make My Hands Respect the Things You Have Made
Grinding mortar to make space for the next mosaic section. Photo by Danny Fulgencio
In January, 2015 I was asked to assist Karen Blessen and the 29 Pieces team of student interns, artist mentors and volunteers as they translated their four-foot maquette into an 18-foot-tall outdoor public sculpture. Over the course of the next ten months, we created 4x scale series of patterns to enlarge the design and create the mosaic puzzle. Using 1x1 inch glass squares, the mosaics were built over clear contact paper and held together using a strong mosaic tape. Laticrete International donated the mortar and grout so that mosaic could be applied to the form using the One Step Method of mixing an adhesive/grout system. Albert T. Scherbarth designed and welded the steel, lathe and concrete structure and powder-coated balls, with twisted, sprouting steel attachments. Baldwin Metals created special attachments for the very particular, twisted steel on top of the hand.
Joe Stokes, lead art instructor, Julie Richey, lead mosaic artist, Maria Patino, student intern, Daniel Diaz, Laticrete rep, and Kelly Nash, 29 Pieces staff artist pose with the completed hand.
Bolting the tower together.
A terribly windy day didn't stop intern Hope Treviño from cleaning up the mortar.
Some very intense work days followed the structure's installation, as the bolt access areas had to be covered and smoothed by Scherbarth, and new mosaic sections were then added, piece by piece. The sculpture's public dedication took place on December 17th, 2017.
Our student intern Hope Treviño took this photo of Advocate Magazine photographer Danny Fulgencio getting the bird's eye view of Piece 24 and the Texas Theater.
Piecing in the last bits.