Public Art Commissions (2000-2003):
The Bus Wrap-Around for the Speed Art Museum was created for Beyond the Walls, a non-traditional “exhibit.” My piece consisted of ten vector line drawings of different birds’ bodies joined with distinct animal heads using Adobe Illustrator. The images were printed on the same material used for wrapping objects for advertising, and then applied to a TARC bus, which circulated throughout Louisville, Kentucky for two months. The Speed Museum wrote of the work: The Bus Wrap clones animals together in a zoo of improbability. Mammals and birds become united in a metaphor for cross-fertilization, suggesting the migrations and transplantations that are fast reforming our cultural landscape. New individuals are created by these combinations, and they will literally weave in and around us as the bus goes from place to place. Elizabeth Mesa-Gaido’s work is a metaphor for transit, for the continually changing landscape that is formed by race, ethnicity, and culture.
For Dinomite Days, a Carnegie Museum of Natural History nationally juried event, I completed PPG TyranAQUARIUM REX. The hand-painted fiberglass dinosaur depicted aquatic life and was located in downtown Pittsburgh, PA for four months. As part of Horse-Mania, a Lexington Arts & Culture Council regionally juried event, I created Tomas. The horse was hand-painted with flora patterns based on an earlier work from the Immigration Series. The sculpture was located on Main Street in downtown Lexington, KY for five months. Both sculptures were auctioned to raise money for their respective organizations.
The Bus Wrap-Around for the Speed Art Museum was created for Beyond the Walls, a non-traditional “exhibit.” My piece consisted of ten vector line drawings of different birds’ bodies joined with distinct animal heads using Adobe Illustrator. The images were printed on the same material used for wrapping objects for advertising, and then applied to a TARC bus, which circulated throughout Louisville, Kentucky for two months. The Speed Museum wrote of the work: The Bus Wrap clones animals together in a zoo of improbability. Mammals and birds become united in a metaphor for cross-fertilization, suggesting the migrations and transplantations that are fast reforming our cultural landscape. New individuals are created by these combinations, and they will literally weave in and around us as the bus goes from place to place. Elizabeth Mesa-Gaido’s work is a metaphor for transit, for the continually changing landscape that is formed by race, ethnicity, and culture.
For Dinomite Days, a Carnegie Museum of Natural History nationally juried event, I completed PPG TyranAQUARIUM REX. The hand-painted fiberglass dinosaur depicted aquatic life and was located in downtown Pittsburgh, PA for four months. As part of Horse-Mania, a Lexington Arts & Culture Council regionally juried event, I created Tomas. The horse was hand-painted with flora patterns based on an earlier work from the Immigration Series. The sculpture was located on Main Street in downtown Lexington, KY for five months. Both sculptures were auctioned to raise money for their respective organizations.