Mixed Media Mosaic sculpture "angel andrea"
Location - saint vinnie's community garden, california
Installation January 2015 - current
Angel Andrea was created from the Napa/Vallejo earthquake that struck on August 24, 2014. It all started when people started posting pictures of their broken plates and ceramics on facebook. Sherry decided to have a Earthquake Mosaic Art Party and invite some friends over to make things from their broken pieces. It soon turned into a big event and Katie Vardijan of The Hub located in downtown Vallejo offered to host it. Boards were cut so those who came could make a keepsake mosaic of their broken treasure to take home. Sherry thought it would also be fun to make a community sculpture for Saint Vinnie's Garden from the broken earthquake shards. She contacted Lisa Marie Gerhard and from their conversations the sculpture became Angel Andrea Mrotz who passed away far too soon at the age of 29. Garvin Thomas from Bay Area Proud found out about the event and did a segment that appeared on NBC
Since the keepsake pieces couldn't be grouted on the same day Sherry organized a grout event at Vallejo Together 's Unity Day. Napa Recovery asked Sherry to do a similar mosaic event for Napa healing and recovery. The Empress Theatre asked Sherry to donate an earthquake mosaic to be auctioned off for Napa and Vallejo musicians hard hit by the earthquake. The Mira Theatre asked Sherry to donate an earthquake piece to be auctioned off to help repair the roof of the historic theatre. Sherry organized another gathering to make earthquake mosaic flowers for the Empress Theatre and the Mira Theatre.
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Vallejo artist hopes to turn quake-broken glass into public art
By Tony Burchyns with photo by Chris Riley, Vallejo Times Herald Vallejo residents Saturday will have a chance to turn their earthquake-broken china and pottery into public art. Local mosaic artist Sherry Tobin is hosting a "quake art" party from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday at The Hub at 350 Georgia St. Residents are invited to bring their broken pieces to help create a mosaic sculpture that will be donated to the St. Vinnie's Community Garden in the fall. Residents can also create their own mosaic pieces to take home, organizers say. "(Tobin) wanted to contribute something for the garden and she got this great idea to incorporate broken pieces from the earthquake," said Vallejo resident Lisa Marie Gerhard, one of the garden's co-founders. Tobin, also a Vallejo resident, declined a Times-Herald interview request Friday because she had already agreed to give NBC Bay Area an exclusive interview. The segment is expected to air next week under the station's Bay Area Proud banner. On Thursday, Vallejo Together's Facebook page quoted Tobin as saying, "I know there are many people who have experienced worse disasters than we did, but I experienced this earthquake and my way of working through things is art." Gerhard said the sculpture would take the form of an angel. She said it would be dedicated in memory of Andrea Laurette Mrotz, a 29-year-old Vallejo woman who was fatally struck by a train in Davis last year. The garden is planning to hold the dedication ceremony sometime in late October or early November, around the one-year anniversary of Mrotz's death, Gerhard said. Today's event is also a chance for residents who lost precious items in Sunday's 6.0 shake to heal from their loss. "People can make whatever they want," Gerhard said. "It's about transformation." Chris Vardijan, co-founder of The Hub, an art hangout, cafe and performance space that opened earlier this year, said he agreed to let Tobin use the venue because she didn't think she would have enough room at her home studio. "She was originally going to do it at her house, but when it started to get too big, she asked if she could do it here," said Vardijan, adding he expects as many as 80 people to participate. "People are going to come in and we're all going to work on it together." Vardijan said the statue would get its final grouting at the Unity Festival on Sept. 14 at Vallejo City Park. Asked what he thought of the project, Vardijan said, "I thought it was brilliant. I thought it was the perfect metaphor for Vallejo, taking the broken pieces and making something spectacular out of it, which is basically what we're doing in Vallejo. We get a lot of bad press but the reality of what's happening in Vallejo is phenomenal." He called Tobin as "the epitome of being able to make something out of nothing." "She's ubiquitous," Vardijan said. "She's tirelessly willing to help Vallejo." |