The Great fish mural commission of 2021 with diane sonnenberg
It started with an ask…
In June 2021, Dianne Sonnenberg asked the artists of Helios to join her in creating a tile mural for Hermann Memorial Children’s Hospital in Houston. Her project was not just expansive in scope, with the final installation covering 72 square feet; it was highly specific. The three 4ft by 6ft aquatic panels were to depict an underwater landscape specific to Texas, the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Working with a marine biologist from the Moody Gardens Aquarium in Galveston, TX and a local water color artist, Dianne solidified a vision of over 70 distinct species found in the Texas Gulf waters at the expansive, yet little known, gulf reefs.
Bring in the support…
Dianne corralled artists from across Texas to help bring each creature to life. Helios artists were tasked with 52 of them and a deadline of a month and a half.
From tried and true powdering techniques to precise cutting down to the millimeter, from heat-soaked vitrigraph pulls to powder slurries and murrine set-ups never before attempted, these determined artists added their creative touches to this incredible undertaking.
Follow along their journeys of creation in this gallery of pictures.
An early draft of the water color triptiych..panel 1
... panel 2 ...
... and panel 3.
Nearly all the fish eyes were created with fused glass by Kristine Shafer.
Many pupil and irid options were needed. If you going to make eyes, make many,.
Grouper dots production (panel 3)
Grouper dots size options
Grouper dot parts meticulously placed by Kristine
Inspiration mounted in the studio for all to see
Base layer and color layer for the crab and lobster, loving named Armando perfectly cut on the ring saw by Jenny Ehrlich.
Most of the creatures started as two layers, a base of clear tekta and a color foundation on which shading and details were added.
Kim Brill brought in her powder expertise to add color and detail to each fish, replicating the specific details of each species.
Many samples were created to test different powder combinations and application techniques.
Jenny became the queen of the crustaceans.
Unerring ring saw cutting was aided by perfect guidelines. Jenny discovered tracing the shapes with a diamond tip engraving pen then filling the etched outlines with sharpie did just the trick for perfect guidelines.
One goatfish, two parrot fish, three bumblebees, and a partridge in a pear tree.
The decorator crab getting dressed up.
Laurie Rich and Kristine Shafer (and Kathy Thompson working on a private project) pulling vitrigraph stringer. We turn vit pulls into vit parties!
Laurie Rich inspecting her vitrigraph pulls, which are soon to become coral veins!
Laurie masterfully puzzled together 12 pieces into a perfect fit!
Dianne Sonnenberg printed out exact sized images for the artists to work from.
Sheldon, the sea horse, on his last firing.
Sheldon the sea horse all put together.
Sheldon's seahorse friends, Leonard and Howard. (from The Big Bang Theory)
Laurie's damselfish is adorably unimpressed.
With the coral's shading and vitrograph veins in place, Laurie checks the fit of all the pieces a final time.
The tube worms work station is in full swing.
After being fired and cut, Kristine laid the tubeworms on a bed of frit for their final trip through the kiln.
Kristine color matched to the real life images of the gulf tube worms then refined the palette to tie into the over all composition.
Here we have shadowy tubeworms under construction. Sponsored by Coke Zero.
Kristine used an extra large murrine mold to create concentric circles of opaque and transparent glass.
These were fired to a full fuse, then cut at oblique angles to reveal the murrine pattern in relief.
These tubeworms were sandblasted, laid on a bed of frit, then tack fused to create a single glossy piece.
Laurie utilized stacking irid glass and applying an opaque powder slurry for the details on her honeycomb fish.
Laurie Rich practicing her powder slurry application technique.
OH, those lips!
Kristine is selecting colors for the spiny anemones.
Kristine cut then beveled concentric pieces of tekta to use as a base to fuse the anemones over.
The final anemones became sculptural.
Kristine became queen of the mollusks.
Kristine layered powder slurries around cut glass to "open" the oyster's shells. Here the oyster is awaiting it's pearl.
Two closed spiny oysters fit together perfectly.
Lion's paw shells, circa 1980's bathrooms everywhere.
A little powdering to bring it to life.
More powdering, because more sometimes is better, with a striker to create the illusion of depth.
A sweet little christmas tree worm sitting by itself.
A christmas tree worm family sculpted by Kristine on a bed of frit.
