Student Design Team Invites Dearborn to Take Part in the Art

The Dearborn Community Fund and the high school Pockets of Perception student design team invite the public to “Take Part in the Art” by helping to make tiles for the mosaic wall that will be installed in Dearborn’s new Intermodal Passenger Rail Station.

The station is scheduled for completion in late 2013.

“Take Part in the Art” workshops will be held in the Mackenzie Fine Arts Building at Henry Ford Community College on Saturday, Jan. 19 and Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. The half-hour workshops will be held at 10:45 and 11:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

All are welcome to participate, however reservations are required and children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult. To reserve a spot, call the DCF at 313-943-5478.

“Pressing clay into molds to make tiles is a great way for community members to contribute to this piece of public art,” said POP Instructor Wendy Sample. “Although participants may not be able to identify the exact tile they made, they will be able to say they had a hand in the mural-making process.”

The mosaic was designed by the POP team which is comprised of 10 students from Edsel Ford High School, Dearborn High School and Fordson High School. They have been working with Sample and co-instructor Mohamad Bazzi since September to design the mural and tiles in various patterns, sizes, and colors for the rail station wall.

Workshop participants will attend a brief presentation about the creative process used to design the mosaic tile wall. POP team members will demonstrate the mold process and assist participants in making a tile or two. Approximately 1,000 tiles will be needed to complete the mural.

“When determining the theme and tile designs for the mosaic, the POP team carefully considered that the station is going to be a transportation gateway, welcoming visitors from near and far when they come to visit Dearborn and The Henry Ford,” Bazzi said.

Motion, energy, the historic significance of The Henry Ford just on the other side of the tracks from the new rail station, and the impact that the station will have on the future of Dearborn were all elements the students discussed as they collaborated to design the mosaic mural.

To make the tile molds, the POP students applied wood, plastic and clay to make a relief of each tile design on medium density fiberboard. Then the team went to TechShop in Allen Park where they learned how to use a Vacuform machine to heat and stretch a sheet plastic onto each relief to create the molds that will be used in making the tiles on Jan. 19 and Feb. 2. The clay tiles will be glazed and fired in HFCC Art Department kilns before being installed at the rail station in late 2013.

The POP project, an acronym for Pockets of Perception – We Are One Community, focuses on young people, encouraging multicultural understanding while cultivating their creativity and investment in the community through the creation of public art.  The POP project is an initiative of the Dearborn Community Fund as it supports arts, cultural and recreational programs that enrich the Dearborn community.

To see additional photos of the POP design team working on the mosaic project, visit the Dearborn Community Fund on Facebook.

To make reservations to participate in “Take Part in the Art,” for more information about the POP project and other programs sponsored by the Dearborn Community Fund, visit www.dearborncommunityfund.org or call the Dearborn Community Fund at 313-943-5478.

Article provided by the Dearborn Community Fund.