process

this is Bird's Fort, which in 1840 was situated near the trinity river between present-day dallas and ft. worth. as there are no pictures of any kind of fort bird, this is actually a generic fort using a composite of typical architectural details of various forts from that era.

what is that white, bird-poop-looking splotch on the side of the guard house? (click to enlarge) heck if i know. you have to remember...this is just a freaking BUS STOP. so it could be almost anything. ahahahahaha.

the process of creation included many months of research, drawing, head scratching, tool development and of course the tedious task of fabrication. of these steps, the research was definitely my favorite part and the next dozen or more posts, complete with (gasp) correct usage of the shift key, will deal less with process and more with the historical purpose and sociological impact of the original survey map used as the primary source for the mosaic project.

this frame shows bird's fort at the termini of two foot trails. it stood in a grove of trees (brown tile) one mile north of the west fork of the trinity river.


this is a slide show of polaroids taken during the process of "building" the fort.



translating the original survey map to a gridwork of 8" tiles:





experimenting with different materials for use as trails and communities.



and one last tease...