Clarifier Community Mosaic

The Clarifier Community Mosaic
 

In 2004 local artist Candace Shepard had the vision of creating collaborative community public art from the concrete ruin of a former wastewater treatment tank. With permission granted by the Lyons Board of Trustees, work began. Several years were needed to repair and prepare the surface. Groups of citizens came together to envision the design. A local landscape design company, Urban Oasis, made professional drawings to communicate the concepts for fundraising and community support. Workshops were held to craft hand painted and sculpted tiles. Mosaic materials were gathered and donated. The Clarifier Community Mosaic came into being through thousands of hours of citizen engagement, resulting in a monumental tribute to the power of cooperation, harmony, healing and peace. The mosaic sculpture honors our common humanity and is a generous expression of love for our community and our deep interconnectedness to all life on Earth.

The circular structure of the Clarifier tank inspired the narrative theme - the cycle of nature and the rhythm of the seasons. Each of the four seasons is represented by a sandstone tree, oriented by the four directions. A walk clockwise around the structure reveals intervals of the year aligned with the signs of the zodiac, local birds and seasonally changing leaves. Vertically, the mosaic begins at the bottom with the Lyons landscape, moving upward through daylight to night sky on the upper rim. Many donated items came with a personal story, all woven into the collective intention of the whole project. 

A tile on the north side of the project indicates the highwater mark of the 2013 flood. Although the Clarifier sustained minimal damage during the massive flooding in Lyons and many neighboring communities, the town and its citizens worked together in the long process of recovery. A mosaic oval of love in the eastern night sky rim is a tribute to displaced Lyons residents and those whose homes were lost in the flood. The blue concentric waves represent the support Lyons received as it rebuilt.