A Friendly Flock Touches Down
The three images on this page illustrate the process that Lisa Houck followed in creating a design for two mosaic murals (8' X 22' and 8' X 8'), for the Frieda Garcia Park in Boston. First, Houck conducted classes with young children from three area community organizations: Ellis Memorial, John Hancock Childcare Center, and United South End Settlements. Inspired by birds from art history, the children made beautiful prints, drawings and collages of birds. Lisa Houck designed two magical landscapes for the park, which are populated by the children's fanciful birds. Finally, this design was translated into a glass mosaic by Unicorn Art Studio.

Houck has been working with mosaic for several years. The lively surface of this colorful material was attractive to the artist, and was a natural outgrowth of her obsessively patterned paintings. Her other mosaics can be found at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Children's Hospital in Boston, and in private collections.