Luther Burbank Mosaic Artist To Exhibit Art at Mercer Gallery

The Mercer Island Arts Council invites you to a Gallery Opening Reception for José Orantes
Thursday, September 15, 2016 from 6:30PM – 8:00PM
Mercer Gallery at the Mercer Island Community & Event Center
8236 SE 24th Street, Mercer Island

José Orantes "Birds in Flight" Artist Exhibition will take place at the Mercer Gallery at the Mercer Island Community & Event Center from September 12 through October 28, 2016. The Mercer Island Arts Council invites you to attend an opening reception on Thursday, September 15th from 6:30-8:00pm. Come meet the artist and enjoy refreshments & entertainment.

José Orantes has created a series of new paintings for this gallery exhibit featuring Mercer Island scenes created in his own artistic and whimsical style that has been described as “Urban Naïve.” After working with Mercer Island resident and mosaic artist, Sandy Glass, to create a series of mosaic installations in the Luther Burbank Park playground, Orantes found himself inspired by the scores of Mercer Island students they worked with in their workshops. This inspiration, along with his talent and imagination captures the vitality of Mercer Island in vibrant colors.

This solo exhibition of Orantes’ new paintings and prints is the culmination of a mosaic project for Luther Burbank Park Playground on Mercer Island. The mosaic installations include nearly 250 square feet of mosaic artwork in the playground area of the park: Three mosaic installations were created with local students; 3rd – 5th and 6th- 8th graders and a fourth installation that is a 5’ high by 38’ long 10mm glass tile mosaic created from a mural Orantes painted. The nearly 2’ x 16' painted mural will be featured in his exhibit, along with a collection of new paintings inspired by work with the children and the local environment.

Artwork is for sale with a percentage of the sales going to support arts and cultural programming of the Mercer Island Arts Council. The framing of Jose Orantes’ paintings have also been supported by an Arts, Heritage and Preservation Grant from 4Culture.

People visiting the playground area of Luther Burbank Park may have noticed the new large-scale mosaic murals installed within the playground. They may have also seen Orantes and Glass installing a 5’ high by 38’ long colorful and whimsical mosaic landscape above the play area in August.

The mosaic mural of a colorful landscape "Birds in Flight," is created out of 10mm (1/4”) glass tiles that appear pixilated up close but come together from a distance like an impressionist painting.

According to Glass, one of the joys of installing this public mosaic installation in the park has been the early morning connection to folks that see the mural while we’re working. Retired Lakeridge Elementary teacher, Janice Engvall and her husband who regularly walk through the park said “I walk by every day and now instead of seeing the concrete, I’m watching the wall evolve into beautiful artwork!”

Long-time Mercer Island resident, Judy Helsel shared this sentiment. “A plain cement wall that was begging for artwork, what a pleasure to walk by this morning a see it in progress!” These past three weeks, Orantes and Glass have been installing the 5’ high by 38’ long mosaic beginning each morning at 7AM. They have each worked over 120 hours to install the 10mm tiled mosaic with care. They are grateful for steadfast community volunteers that helped out throughout their work in the playground.

The Luther Burbank Playground Mosaic Art Enhancement was proposed by Sandy Glass and funded by the Mercer Island Arts Council. The 3rd- 5th grade workshops, not fully funded in the grant received supplemental support by the Mercer Island Community Fund and also from a private donation to honor the memory of Aaron and Mickie Freed.

José Orantes is a well-known Seattle artist. His paintings have been shown in numerous national and international exhibitions. A graduate of the National School of Art in Guatemala, specializing in painting and sculpture, José has led over fifty residencies throughout Washington State since 1988. Jose Orantes and Sandy Glass have collaborated on several Artist-in-Residence projects with Mercer Island students since 2006. Previous projects of theirs working with students can be seen at Islander Middle school where mosaic art adorns the common areas throughout the school.