On Thursday, September 3oth and Friday, October 1st, 2010, Mother Meres mural was installed!
Click to view the video of the installation process:
Mother Meres glows at dusk
The mural and adjacent dumpster surround transformation is a joint project of The Garden Fairies and the Greater Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce.
At the upcoming dedication Wednesday October 20th, the mural will be gifted to the city of Tarpon Springs. The mural will be included in the Tarpon Springs developing Art and History Trail and the city’s Public Art Collection. The project received no public funding and was made possible through fundraising activities of The Garden Fairies and Greater Tarpon Springs Chamber of Commerce, including a benefit party and The Garden Fairies’ 2009 garden tour.
The installation took two days, headed up by the talented and tireless Garden Fairy Heather, our Quality Control Queen. Many thanks to the installation crew, headed by Travis Ward from TWard LLC. We send our undying appreciation to volunteers Jan and Steve Stiffer, who cheerfully stuck with us until after dark to complete the dumpster surround as well as countless hours of making parts for the project. Additional assistance was provided by Annette Gloomis and Lisa Schmidt.
The adjacent dumpster surround even got transformed
Thank you, thank you to:
Dimos Angelakos the owner of the building, loved the idea of having a mural on the side of his building. He only had one request, that we put Tarpon Springs on the mural. Dimos’ assistance throughout the project helped immensely.
The City of Tarpon Springs, particularly Vice Mayor Robin Saenger and City Manager Mark LeCouris for helping the project become a reality. We would also like to acknowledge the support of Mayor David O. Archie and Commissioners; Susan Slattery, Jeff Larsen and Chris Alahouzos. Daniella Smyth from the Tarpon Recreation center, we know why you were named Tarpon Springs employee of the year. Public Art Chairperson Marleen Gravitz deserves kudos for suggesting the wall location and Mother Meres as the recipient of commemoration.
Herb Elliott for legal guidance.
Our sponsors– BB &T Bank, Lake St. George office, Donna Hayden and Sue Hamill. To all the people who attended our fund raising events.
A portion of the tile was donated by Tons of Tile, located at 9325 US Highway 19 Pinellas Park, FL. Thank you Angela.
A special shout out to the fabulous Garden Fairies and Wizards who hung in for the long haul and love gluing sh!t on sh!t Heather Richardson, Rike Kallaugher, Shannon O’Leary-Beck, Barbara Melby-Burhans, Kiaralinda and Todd, Patti Bacun and Lowell, Jan and Steve Stiffer, Nancy Harmony, Gayle Pollino, Terry Murphy, Linda Medeiros, Lisa Schmidt, Delia Skye, Jesus Rodriguez, Nick Beck, Debbie Odom.
Kumpa for teaching us how to make molded fruits and veggies! We wish you best of luck.
Siobhan, What a great video. You look like Mother Meres reincarnated in that last shot. Way to go, Bruce!
It’s beautiful! It came out so well. Can’t wait to see it without the scaffolding.
she’s beautiful!
Dear Fairy Queen,
Your mural and installation is so Beyond Fab. I sent it on to friends so they could see what remarkable women can do!
Great Mural,great video!!!
I had no doubt that this mural would be spectacular, and it is. So many talented people help make this mural a reality for everyone to enjoy. Amazing job…..
yeah we finished 6 monyhs of sundays and tuesdays . what will be our next project … i wonder?
I went to the mural today (Sun.10/3) with my son and his girl. They both did a 12×12 and wanted to see everything finished. While we were there a lot people were pulling off the road to get a closer look. There were many positive comments. Everyone, thought that it was beautiful and seemed to appreciate the amount of work that went into the project. They wanted to know more about who Mother Meres was and I told them what I knew. Some asked, “Is there going to be some kind of plaque with more info?” The comments from some of the locals were pretty much the same. They liked it and thought there should be more things like it in the city. We were there for about a half an hour and as we were leaving more people were pulling in. It was very exciting to see so many people embracing your hard work. Great job, Garden Fairies!!!!! Thank you, for letting me share in your project. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the art of mosaic!
Beautiful installation and a remarkable movement-you all need to go national!!!
Coongratulations to all the Fairies and to the “helper dudes”.
I can’t wait to get over to see it in person!
Wow! This is an amazing and beautiful project! The Garden Fairies are such an interesting and dedicated group of people who truly get things done. If I lived in Florida…..I’d be donning a gardening hat in a heartbeat! Kudos!
“My friends that have gone to see it “in person” are in awe. The photos do not do it justice and an evening viewing is great too with the lights twinkling off the tiles.”
Awesome! Video brought tears to my eyes. And no one dropped anything.
Vicky, so glad you teared up. Must mean we did a good job. Believe me if we didn’t get Mother installed there would be lots of crying Fairies.
To all who want to come see the mural, try seeing it at dusk. Mother glows during the magic hour. You might want to Mother at dusk, go for dinner or a drink at one of Tarpon Avenue’s establishments (Manolo’s, The Zone or Currents) and return to see her all lit up.
What a great idea!!! It is beautiful and very creative, Tarpon Springs is a great community. We are very lucky to have so many great clubs and organizations.
Pat McKibbin, President
The Garden Club of Tarpon Springs
Wonderful project. Great result. Loved your video and I can not wait to see the mural sans scaffolding.
Siobhan,
It was delightful to meet you last evening at the WIN workshop/expo. I am so looking forward to being a part of the Garden Fairies. As I mentioned last night my background is in visual arts and gardening. In New Mexico I taught visual art and worked & volunteered at the Roswell Art Museum–I miss all my creative friends there still! I also took the master gardener courses in Roswell, then worked at the premier native plant nursery in Denver for a season to learn about gardening in that area.
I look forward to the mural dedication,
Valerie
Stubbled upon your project on the internet – What a beautiful artistic group project – really comes off like a community jewel!- congratulations to all that contributed.
Ed – San Diego, CA