GARY PAYNE/Special Contributor
Jose Garcia (left) and Chris Bailey dismantle scaffolding Thursday after installing a tile mural at Fleet Maintenance Building.
Tiled images pay tribute to work of public employees
19 murals around outside of Frisco building depict the jobs
10:19 PM CST on Sunday, November 28, 2004
FRISCO -- Public works employees aren't used to getting a lot of attention, but that's likely to change.
Nineteen murals depicting workers were installed this week outside Frisco's new public works facility, which opens in January.
These images aren't portraits though. Instead, the mosaic tile murals capture employees while they are on the job. They show workers' hands and arms as they do everything from read meters to repair traffic signals.
Artist Stephen Farley of Tucson, Ariz., said the faceless images depict how universal the work is that these employees do.
"Then so many other people can feel honored, even public employees outside of the city of Frisco," he said.
The $76,000 artwork marks the first of the city's 17 public art projects.
In 2002, the city approved a plan that calls for spending 2 percent of every capital project's budget on art. Other cities like Plano have similar plans in place.
This week, workers installed four mosaic tile murals that measure 5.5 feet by 13 feet outside the west wall of the Fleet Maintenance Building.
The art highlights people in action. There's an employee driving a tractor; someone reading a meter; another person opening a fire hydrant; and a worker using a wrench.
Fifteen smaller murals were placed on columns outside the complex.
In September, Mr. Farley photographed 29 public works employees. Using a process he created called tilography, he produced 1,459 six-inch glazed ceramic tiles that have the images seen in the photos.
"I really strongly believe that the art has to be serving the people in the area it's going to installed," Mr. Farley said.
Some of the employees whose photos were used say they're honored.
"Most people think we just drive by in a truck, but we're actually going somewhere to do something," said Erik Jeffrey, who's in charge of water quality control. The fact that [the artist] looked at us to illustrate what we do is pretty nice."
Tracy Nichols, a senior traffic technician, said he thought it would boost morale. Ramiro Garza, traffic supervisor, wasn't sure what to make of the idea at first.
"When I first found out, I thought it was kind of weird, but [now] I think it's cool."
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