Fulcrum Arts, which combines the studios of Natalie Blake and Randi Solin, joined with Hand of Man Artisan Builders, owned by Nick Marchese, to create the first-ever sidewalk art installation in downtown Brattleboro, VT. Located on Elliot  St, the 7 x 10 ft plot was dug out by the town and refilled with fresh cement for us to press our sherds of hand carved  tile and hand blown glass into.

We are taking mosaic-making to a new level!  The challenge was how to embed our undulating sculptural wall tile and round, broken bits of glass into the fresh cement with a time limit, as the cement set up.  Nick was a bit frantic working after us to clean and trowel the cement around our sherds.  He worked for two complete days in the wet work and then later in the polishing work, bringing the glass back out of the cement and polishing it, with Randi’s help, to a high sheen.

The Brattleboro Town Arts Committee is given the credit of starting an arts meet downtown program that will put out a Request for Proposals for Public art projects such as this one to created permanent installations in the downtown district.   Fulcrum Arts and Hand OF Man Builders were proud to be the first ones to be asked to create such an installation.