Tile project with volunteers lightens up lamp posts in Bancroft Park
During the tile project in Bancroft Park in the week
starting July 14... ABOVE: A group of volunteers start with the top and bottom
tiles (the ones that were handmade by Concrete Couch artists) around the base of
the southeast lamp post - one of four lighting the open area in front of the
Bancroft Park stage. BELOW: Also being worked on was the northeast lamp post.
Kaiya Domejkda-Castro, 7, is shown in a moment of concentration.
Westside Pioneer photos
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The Concrete Couch, of course.
The area arts organization is working with the Old Colorado City Foundation (OCCF) to put colorful tiles - many of them handmade - around the bases of the four lamp posts in Bancroft Park.
A Couch crew tiled one of them a few weeks ago, and two others were getting attention on project days during the week starting Monday, July 14. The fourth will have to wait, because of electrical repairs needed to the post and base, a city spokesperson said.
The $1,000 project was funded by OCCF as part of its efforts to spruce up the park. “Julie and I went to look at it, and we were both pleased what we saw,”
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The project day July 15 involved 15 to 20 people - mostly squatted low, on their knees or lying flat as they worked around the cylindrical concrete lamp bases with small tools to glue tiles in place. The participants were a combination of Concrete Couch members, neighborhood residents and volunteers from the Meadow Park Community Center, according to Renee Cockrell, Couch program director.
Naomi Marshall, a mosaic specialist and co-director of the Bancroft effort, pointed out that the work will not only look good but will be durable. “It will outlast these lamp posts,” she pledged.
Johanna Wolfe, who lives near the park, dropped by with her sons, Paxton, 14; and Emmett, 10. “This is our park,” Johanna said. “We come here to play frisbee, listen to music and go to the market. I feel like it is an extension of our yard.”
An offshoot of the OCCA, the OCCF formed about a year and a half ago as a charitable nonprofit. The group has since explored a range of plans for Bancroft upgrades and organized three tasting/drinking/live music/art fundraising events in the park that have netted more than $20,000.
Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 7/17/14;
Community:
Arts)
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