PUBLIC ART IN
THE AMERICAS

Introduction

Mirko Lauer:
Peru’s Fine Art
of Flag Washing

John Pitman Weber:
Out of the Studio,
Into the Streets

José Luis Soto and
Isa Campos Castañeda:
Mosaic Opening Night

Dora Andrade:
Brazilian Movement Gives Girls Dignity

María Galindo:
Bolivian Debtors
a Creative Force

Coco Fusco:
Now Playing:
Exotic People

Michael Schnorr:
Border Works
Tie Local to Global

María Esther Francia:
Uruguayan Youths
With Unruly Tastes

Slideshow:
Mosaic of the Americas

Books

Home: AMERICAS.ORG   September 2001 

Mosaic of the Americas

A September 15 gathering in Minneapolis celebrates the Resource Center of the Americas’ mural Mosaic of the Americas: Many Strengths, Many Struggles. The 20,000 ceramic tiles cover the building’s south face, measuring 22 by 44 feet. The celebration followed 10 weeks of production and more than a year of planning.

Four artists from Morelia, Mexico—Isa Estella Campos Castañeda, María Guadalupe García Rojas, Crescencio Méndez Gaspar and José Luis Soto González—traveled to Minneapolis to produce the mural with Minnesota artists Lori Greene, Gustavo Lira and Deborah Ramos. The Morelia artists work in a collective called the Visual Arts Research Workshop, the world leader in a tile-mosaic technique called azulejo. More than 150 community volunteers participated in the production, doing everything from cutting the tiles to running errands to providing meals.

Mosaic does more than improve the Minneapolis urban scenery. The project enters public conversation with an image of the diverse peoples of the Americas and their hopes amid globalization. It’s a durable and highly visible public statement of the Resource Center’s commitment to equality, democracy and economic justice.

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