Pride Circles @ Stonewall Union

Thank you, Short North Alliance *@ShortNorthArtsDistrict* | and Stonewall *@StonewallColumbus* for this opportunity to share my rainbow filled heart

be a pebble in the community pond!

When invited to create a visual work for Stonewall Columbus in the Short North, I immediately remembered the rift that opened in our community in 2017, during that year’s Pride event. I also recalled that the original Stonewall in New York was the well known start of a riot, started by Black, & Latino Trans people that sparked a national and ongoing conversation about the rights of Trans people, Gays, and Lesbians in America.

Though Stonewall has gone through some major changes since 2017, the building stood silent during the Black Lives Matter/George Floyd protests in 2020. Being a community center, I hoped for more. Despite my wariness, I am hopeful because of the many friends and acquaintances I know who I see have stepped up to commit to making change within. I am honored to have a chance to share my creativity in their push to be the community resource we desire them to be.

The design I created shows a few of the many pride and identity flags in our community, arranged in what I feel is a more impactful visual form than the rectangle shapes we usually see these flags in. These many bands of color that define US display in a unified form of pond ripples, with each of us working as the pebbles that break the surface through small efforts that combine to make waves in the waters of change. These ripples coalesce around the entrance of Stonewall, creating a warm and welcoming embrace around the many voices in our community who enter.

Some of the team!

Densil and I, the day before install! These are two giddy Jamaican-Americans repping our LGBTQIA+ community!

packaging

production notes on assembly

All my designer and anal retentive friends will understand the excitement of seeing things being aligned…

This is where I got goosebumps. History is being made today.

Puzzles! I love puzzles! Sliding in the tiles

Applying the epoxy to help the material fuse to the concrete. I learned that the material won\’t fuse on concrete without it.

The GLEE we had when the fire started!

Mike was filled with thoughtful questions about our community, and was also my main source of answers about the process. The install team was as excited as we were about this project, the first of it\’s kind in Columbus!

fascinating to watch.

Warming up the material to mold and trim it.

I can’t believe I said no when this team first asked if I wanted to get some pics holding the heating iron! #noregrets

Climbed over a railing on top of the building to snap progress shots.

Stonewall was open the whole time, and I was able to watch things progress from inside the warm and dry building.

Here you can see in these pre-heated tiles sections, the corresponding codes to get tiles aligned.

flame torch was to melt specific sections to get them to seal. The darker colors need extra heat for some reason.

I’m so pleased that this project came together as well as envisioned. Sometimes, when trying new things with new materials, artists must let go and trust the process. The expertise of Griffin Striping & Paving set me at ease.