CREATIVE PLACE MAKING
This time with a repeated sense of Mesa history and the strong memory of an artisan harkening back when the city was an Agritopia or urban farm before that word became a registered trademark for the166-acre mixed-use planned development in Gilbert.
As you can see by reading the sign for Valley Metro's Public Art Program, orchards of pecan trees were once located adjacent to Main Street. Originally they served as crop trees and later as shade trees for the neighborhoods that replaced the groves.
For station artist Mary Shindell growing up nearby the images of these beautiful trees became a part of her memory producing these expressions of art recently installed at the Traction Power Substation.
Grapes flourished in this surrounding area in the 1880's and 1890's. The name of the restaurant is a reminder of those times.
Twilight Garden – A new public art project called Twilight Garden is located at Morris Plaza on the north side of Main Street, adjacent to Il Vinaio. The City collaborated with a Tucson artist, Joe O’Connell (Creative Machines), to develop a concept that would be in harmony with the other public art features in close proximity such as Mesa Flora figure at the Country Club Light Rail Station and the Memory of a Tree pecan tree-themed screen wall at the Traction Power Substation. With consultation from the Arts and Culture Department, Joe developed, fabricated, and installed four acrylic sculptures that are internally illuminated at twilight and are human scaled to encourage interaction. The sculptures automatically cycle through all colors in the spectrum, but can be manually adjusted to a specific color by visitors pressing a button. Since the installation of the piece, people of all ages in Morris Plaza are seen interacting with the artwork daily (changing the colors, sitting in them, taking pictures with them)!
