“Make Your Mark” is a public art mosaic produced in collaboration with the students and staff of Alderwood Middle School (AMS), located in Lynnwood, Washington. It is composed of over 12,000 tiles, the majority of which have been hand-illustrated with archival ink pens by members of AMS and measures 34 feet x 15 feet. The tiles that were not hand-illustrated were manufactured using prints and stamps generated from the illustrations. As such, every piece of “Make Your Mark” truly belongs to the members of Alderwood Middle School. A zoom-able digital version of the piece is available for viewing from smartphone and computers at the link below:
I provided the students and staff of AMS with thousands of blank wooden tiles and archival ink pens, and they in turn provided me with thousands of illustrations that would be rearranged into a map of the world. There were so many tiles in such staggering variety that I had a great time just looking through them, to say nothing of actually executing the piece.
It is my hope that “Make Your Mark” provides a lasting impression of the collective consciousness of Alderwood Middle School in 2017.
Above is an image of my father lending a hand one afternoon by placing wooden tiles in a grid matrix before they are digitally photographed. Later in the process, the grid will provide unique coordinates for every tile, making each piece easier to locate as “Make Your Mark” is assembled.
In this photo, two assistants are gluing the tiles to the custom wooden frames – 43 in total – that will be mounted on the wall.
Once assembled, the panels are sealed with an archival varnish and left to cure.
Here is “Make Your Mark” laid out for a visual check before it is packed up, taken to Lynnwood, Washington, and installed in Alderwood Middle School.
With the help of an assistant, I installed “Make Your Mark” over the course of three days, taking care that my placement was not only secure and fit within the space provided, but made the best use of the lighting conditions in AMS. The panels were built with interlocking tabs and bottom brackets, in addition to their wall mounts, to ensure that they would function as a single structure once installed.
I couldn’t have been happier to see the fruition of many months and hundreds of hours of meticulous work. I was very pleased with the positioning of the piece and quite surprised by the legibility of the individual tiles from ground level. Twelve thousand thank-yous to the students and staff of Alderwood Middle School – one for every tile.
If you would like to know more about this project, check the “Blog” section for more detailed descriptions and documentation.