During the tile making process, neighbors shared many stories about their lives living in Southern Oaks. Neighbors often visualized these stories by carving symbols into their tiles that represented themselves, a time in their lives , or a memorial about a loved one. These stories have become a visual codex carved into the side of the wall. As a way to preserve these moments, we were able to capture a few of these tales in neighbor's own words below.
Thank You!
This mural literally took a village. It wouldn't have happened without the following people and community partners.
Ryah Christensen
Ryah guided us through the process of how to best engage a community when making art. She trained the trainers, she assembled our individual ceramic pieces into the design, installed and grouted the art on the wall, and so much more. We encourage you to explore her commissioned art and other community art projects sprinkled throughout Austin.
Community Partners
Mural Session Hosts: Joslin Elementary and Patrick Aziz, Pauline Stacchini and Manchaca Library, Kim Monks and Sunset Valley Elementary
Neighbor and Artist Monique Capanelli for laying the design foundation and kicking off this project with us.
Mosaic Artist Sherry Fagan for helping us cut SO much glass!
Karen Hansen of Joslin Elementary for being an amazing community partner helping with many kiln loads of ceramic tile.
Lola Williams for volunteering her kiln and time at Barton Hills Elementary
Business Sponsors that aided in our fundraising: Articulture Designs, Austin Beerworks, Austin Eastciders, CCWest Printing, Conans, Cosmic Coffee Beer, Crux Climbing Center, Pinthouse Pizza, Rambler, STILL Whiskey, Quack's Bakery
SONA Arts Committee
Lis Healey
Jen Maufrais Kelly
Becky Pursley
Gina Hush
Lindsey Taucher
Lizeth Gonzales
Karen Kalergis
Our 200+ Volunteers
Wow! Y'all donated over 2,500 hours of your time to help create this mural. Thank you to our neighbors, friends, and families who saw our vision as not just some crazy idea. We all did this! As one neighbor said, "we are awesome!".
