“Entre Agua Y Estrellas”

Between Water and Stars

Lys Santamaria

Starting in 2021, Lys Santamaria had a vision for an incredible art installation at Barton Springs in Austin, TX. It would be a floor mosaic that is the first of its kind in Austin, a LithoMosaic. It would connect the world to the springs, represent the enduring nature of the water, flora, and fauna of the springs, and celebrate the many visitors of this iconic and historic location.

The Design

Lys’s 300 square foot design would span the floor of the newly renovated Joan Means Khabele Bathhouse at Barton Springs as a part of the City of Austin’s 2009 Barton Springs Master Plan. The mosaic includes 2 constellations significant to the springs, wildflowers and grasses native to the area, iconic wildlife renowned for their presence, and 25 figures representing visitors (many of which she drew while people watching on the pool’s grassy banks).

Bringing her design to life required calling in expertise in multiple fields: mosaics and design, of course, in which Lys Santamaria is a seasoned rockstar, LithoMosaic and concrete to which she called upon Amanda Elizabeth Mosaics in California, and FUSED GLASS to bring to life the figures and stars of her design. Ingresar Helios :)

The Figure Fusing Process…

The figures in Lys’s design had a subtly of line that created expression for each of the figures. Mosaic would require too many grout lines that would break the figures up into hundreds of pieces. Ceramics could keep the figures cohesive, but in a floor installation, they could easily get chipped and not last the decades/centuries hoped for with this location. Solid glass fused tiles proved to be the answer.

Each of the figures were created through a technique called kilnforming (or fused glass). Glass powders were mixed to create custom colors for each figure’s skin, clothes, and hair. Ceramic fiber dams were pinned on top of a fiber paper mat to create both the shape of each individual tile and give the top of each tile a textured finish (rather than the expected glossy smooth finish of glass). Which means, everything was built upside down! The pinned glass powder mounds were then put into a kiln and fired to 1490*F to create perfectly sculpted solid pieces of textured glass. The pieces fit together like little puzzles with space between each tile to allow for the LithoMosaicing process. If you think we pulled this off on the first try, I thank you. Each tile was then refined through hand grinding and cleaned multiple times in between grindings to fit together with perfect 1/8th inch gaps.

Over 200+ hours of professional and volunteer time went into the creation of these figures and stars.