Research
Students started the course learning insect biology (ENT 001) and the history of symbolism (FRS 002).
This slide shows ENT001 student Adeliz Ulloa holding a walking stick in the Bohart Museum Living Arthropod Zoo.
This slide shows ENT001 student Ayana Call holding a walking stick in the Bohart Museum Living Arthropod Zoo.
This slide shows ENT001 student Imagine Morales holding a hissing cockroach in the Bohart Museum Living Arthropod Zoo.
This slide shows ENT001 student Lili Larsen holding an insect in the Bohart Museum Living Arthropod Zoo.
Fabrication
Students created their designs in clay, poured a plaster mold and then used the mold to make two tiles, one they glazed for the project and one they glazed with any colors they liked for themselves.
Student Alondra Bravo making trim pieces for the installation by impressing a design on slabs of clay and carefully cutting out the trim pieces.
Student Alyssa Cerda making trim pieces for the installation by impressing a design on slabs of clay and carefully cutting out the trim pieces.
Each student created their own tile design and this slide shows student Lili Larsen carving her dragonfly design into her clay tile piece.
The next step was to pour a plaster mold so each student could make at least two tiles of their design. This tile shows a plaster mold of Lili Larsen’s dragonfly design.
Students then pressed clay into their plaster mold to make tile replicas. This photo shows Ayana Call pressing clay into her mold.
When additional trim pieces were needed to complete the installation, student Sydney Lizarde teamed up with community member Sarah Rizzo to make the pieces needed from slabs of clay. Shown here with completed trim pieces cut from slabs of clay.
Students then pressed clay into their plaster mold to make tile replicas. This photo shows four students, Ryan Meadows, Ashley Valdez, Heidi Tejeda Mata, and Imagine Morales, pressing clay into their plaster molds.
Tiles were then dried on racks to keep them flat. Once dry they were placed in the kiln for low temperature firing called bisque firing.
This photo shows student Ashley Valdez with her bisquefired tile.
This photo shows student Ayana Call with her bisque fired tile.
This photo shows student Heidi Tejeda Mata with her bisque fired tile.
This photo shows student Kimberly Moniz with her bisque fired tile.
This photo shows student Lili Soucek with her bisque fired tile.
This photo shows student Ryan Meadows with his bisque fired tile.
This photo shows student Adeliz Ulloa with her bisque fired tile glazed in colors of her choice.
All tiles for the project installation were glazed with a combination of glazes layered. This photo shows all the tiles with the glaze completed and ready to go into the kiln.
This photo shows the tiles in the kiln after the successful firing.
Installation
All the tiles were packed into boxes, along with the design guide and tools and taken to the installation site at University Retirement Community Garden Apartments.
The installation required carefully measuring and marking of the location for each tile in the design. This photo shows Amanda Larson and Gale Okumura doing the measurements and marking the tile locations on the wall.
This photo shows Amanda Larson installing the first tile using thin set to adhere it to the wall.
This photo shows Amanda Larson installing trim pieces using thin set to adhere it to the wall.
The inner trim pieces were placed first. This shows Amanda Larson and Diane Ullman stopping to check everything as the inner trim tile installation was completed.
This photo shows the first tiles set up on the wall.
This photo shows Amanda Larson installing the tiles on the top of the elevator.
Amanda Larson in front of the installation after the first day of attaching tiles.
Gale Okumura and Diane Ullman in front of the installation after the first day of attaching tiles.
Gale Okumura, community member Maxine Solomon and Diane Ullman in front of the installation after the first day of installation.
The tiles need to be protected with tape before grouting to prevent grout from obscuring details of the designs. This photo shows the tiles taped up and ready for grouting.
This photo shows Gale Okumura removing tape after grouting.
Amanda Larson, Gale Okumura and Diane Ullman in front of the project after the second day of installation. All the tiles are installed and grouted except for the additional trim pieces needed.
The final trim pieces were installed and grouted. This photo shows Gale Okumura very happy we are done!
This photo shows the finished project with the painted mural visible on the left.