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| One of Arthur's tile mosaic pieces, entitled Fish Out of Water. (Image courtesy of Twyla Arthur.) |
Ever have one of those moments when you're meeting someone for professional reasons and they tell you they don't have a ride home?
Such was the case with my recent interview with Twyla Arthur, a well-known tile and mixed media artist who has created countless works in San Antonio and Austin.
We met this morning on the steps of the Ursuline Academy at the Southwest School of Art, where her friend had given her a ride after she discovered her car had a dead battery.
Our interview was about Bernard's Bench – the memorial she created in 2009 for art patron Bernard Lifshutz, who died Sept. 18, 2004.
Arthur decorated the bench in colorful tiles, mementos and found objects collected by Paula Owen, president of the Southwest School of Art, who asked her to complete an art proposal and submit it it to SSA in Lifshutz' honor.
The bench is now a mainstay of the River Walk, giving pedestrians a place to sit and rest their legs while admiring the design.
"When I built the bench, I wanted it to be interactive so people could touch the tiles and feel the different textures," Arthur told me, running her hand across the surface of the bench. "I made sure to sand down the edges so it's nice and smooth."
She said the art of creating mosaics is very labor-intensive, requiring the delicate arrangement of countless tiny pieces into a picture. Her voice has a soothing, gravelly quality that seems to embody the relief of a finished piece of work.
"I love working on a project, but I'm always happy when it's done," she says. "I hope that when I create a piece, it holds up visually. I want to create something that looks really good with the landscape."
Mosaics are one of the few forms of art that people are encouraged to touch, making them popular for children and families.
As a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area in her youth, Arthur was inspired to continue her studies in sculpture and painting. She exhibited paintings for Paul Klee at the University Art Museum in Berkeley, eventually completing her Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture at Mills College in Oakland, Calif.
She recently lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where her friend, Colleen Sorenson, is involved in Muros en Blanco, working with children to do tile graffiti pieces.
Our interview was about Bernard's Bench – the memorial she created in 2009 for art patron Bernard Lifshutz, who died Sept. 18, 2004.
Arthur decorated the bench in colorful tiles, mementos and found objects collected by Paula Owen, president of the Southwest School of Art, who asked her to complete an art proposal and submit it it to SSA in Lifshutz' honor.
The bench is now a mainstay of the River Walk, giving pedestrians a place to sit and rest their legs while admiring the design.
"When I built the bench, I wanted it to be interactive so people could touch the tiles and feel the different textures," Arthur told me, running her hand across the surface of the bench. "I made sure to sand down the edges so it's nice and smooth."
She said the art of creating mosaics is very labor-intensive, requiring the delicate arrangement of countless tiny pieces into a picture. Her voice has a soothing, gravelly quality that seems to embody the relief of a finished piece of work.
"I love working on a project, but I'm always happy when it's done," she says. "I hope that when I create a piece, it holds up visually. I want to create something that looks really good with the landscape."
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| Twyla Arthur poses on Bernard's Bench, a tile mosaic structure she created for art patron Bernard Lipshutz in 2009. |
Mosaics are one of the few forms of art that people are encouraged to touch, making them popular for children and families.
As a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area in her youth, Arthur was inspired to continue her studies in sculpture and painting. She exhibited paintings for Paul Klee at the University Art Museum in Berkeley, eventually completing her Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture at Mills College in Oakland, Calif.
She recently lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where her friend, Colleen Sorenson, is involved in Muros en Blanco, working with children to do tile graffiti pieces.
Arthur has created other tile mosaics throughout San Antonio, including Hope Springs, a sculpture at the Houston Street court fountain in downtown San Antonio, and the new bus stop mosaic project at the entrance to the Blue Star Arts Complex on South Alamo Street, completed in March.
She also completed a mosaic on a red slate retaining wall between Fulton and Flores streets in the city's Deco District near her home.
Arthur explained that she's always liked the project despite complications that hindered its completion, including the wrong choice of plants along the wall that obscure the tile details and aesthetic.
She acknowledged that public art is becoming increasingly competitive in San Antonio since she moved here in 1998.
"Public art has changed since I started doing it – there are a lot of new ways of creating things," she said.
On Sept. 8, 2011, Mayor Julián Castro and the San Antonio City Council passed the city's public art ordinance, updating funding policies that enabled allocation for public art set at 1 percent of the capital improvement program.
Most of the money allocated to Public Art San Antonio (PASA) for the 2012-2017 bond project goes to streets, bridges and sidewalks ($3.34 million) and drainage and flood control ($1.27 million.)
The City of San Antonio's Department of Culture and Creative Development awards public artists for their proposals based on a set of policies and guidelines, according to its website.
Arthur explained her new method of improving the chances of receiving funding for sculptural objects, showing me some of the designs she's done and photographed.
I offered her a ride home at the end of our interview, and she guided me through the sunlit streets across San Pedro Avenue to Fredericksburg Road, where we stopped at a brand-new Starbucks – on order was a large, unsweet iced coffee for me and a double espresso latte for her.
On our way out of the shop, I told her how the baristas sometimes put sugar in my coffee even though I ask for it unsweet.
"You need to emphasize the 'not sweet,'" she suggested.
I took a sip of my coffee. It was sweet.
"Is it sweet?" she asked.
"Yes," I answer. "But it's good anyway. At least it's real sugar."
From there, we turned left onto King's Highway, where she showed me the old house where she used to live. It turns out its now under the care of two other San Antonio arts patrons, Page Graham and Tami Kegley.
Soon we arrived at her duplex, which was blocked off on both sides of the road due to sidewalk construction.
It's maybe that I'm so in love with Alamo Heights that I was unfamiliar with the Deco District. It's a pretty interesting side of town with sort of an Old Hollywood feel to it. This image of a building housing the San Antonio Police Department intrigued me. I'm planning to venture over there again soon – hopefully to attend an art talk or enjoy a meal at Deco Pizzeria.
She also completed a mosaic on a red slate retaining wall between Fulton and Flores streets in the city's Deco District near her home.
Arthur explained that she's always liked the project despite complications that hindered its completion, including the wrong choice of plants along the wall that obscure the tile details and aesthetic.
"Public art has changed since I started doing it – there are a lot of new ways of creating things," she said.
On Sept. 8, 2011, Mayor Julián Castro and the San Antonio City Council passed the city's public art ordinance, updating funding policies that enabled allocation for public art set at 1 percent of the capital improvement program.
Most of the money allocated to Public Art San Antonio (PASA) for the 2012-2017 bond project goes to streets, bridges and sidewalks ($3.34 million) and drainage and flood control ($1.27 million.)
The City of San Antonio's Department of Culture and Creative Development awards public artists for their proposals based on a set of policies and guidelines, according to its website.
Arthur explained her new method of improving the chances of receiving funding for sculptural objects, showing me some of the designs she's done and photographed.
I offered her a ride home at the end of our interview, and she guided me through the sunlit streets across San Pedro Avenue to Fredericksburg Road, where we stopped at a brand-new Starbucks – on order was a large, unsweet iced coffee for me and a double espresso latte for her.
On our way out of the shop, I told her how the baristas sometimes put sugar in my coffee even though I ask for it unsweet.
"You need to emphasize the 'not sweet,'" she suggested.
I took a sip of my coffee. It was sweet.
"Is it sweet?" she asked.
"Yes," I answer. "But it's good anyway. At least it's real sugar."
From there, we turned left onto King's Highway, where she showed me the old house where she used to live. It turns out its now under the care of two other San Antonio arts patrons, Page Graham and Tami Kegley.
Soon we arrived at her duplex, which was blocked off on both sides of the road due to sidewalk construction.
It's maybe that I'm so in love with Alamo Heights that I was unfamiliar with the Deco District. It's a pretty interesting side of town with sort of an Old Hollywood feel to it. This image of a building housing the San Antonio Police Department intrigued me. I'm planning to venture over there again soon – hopefully to attend an art talk or enjoy a meal at Deco Pizzeria.
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| The art deco style featured on the buildings along historic Fredericksburg Road. |
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