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Tile Mural Finds a Home In Historic Leesburg
by
Anonymous
September 22, 2004 -- Three years ago, Larry Thaw visited an arts-related trade show in Orlando and something clicked. There he was introduced to a new heat and pressure process of transferring printed images to tiles. Larry thought, “This has great potential,“ and made the investment in the process.
His art-on-tile business has come a long way from that Orlando encounter. His first commission was transferring a print of a dog to a decorative tile. Today you’ll find him designing a tile mural for historic downtown Leesburg as part of the Leesburg Partnership, which is all about revitalizing the business, economic and social core of downtown.
Thaw first approached Joe Shipes, director of the Leesburg Partnership, over a year ago with the concept of creating a mural for the city. Shipes was interested and said, “A mural artist can charge up to $20,000 to $30,000 and more. We saw this approach as a cost effective way for the creation of the mural.” Shipes was also concerned about the topic matter for the mural and reflected, “There is a concern about public art as in what’s art to someone may not be to another. So we selected vintage Leesburg postcard scenes for the mural.”
The three postcards chosen for the project date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s -- a steamboat on the Ocklawaha River, a carriage ride in old Leesburg and an early glimpse of Leesburg’s Main Street. A total of 120, 12” x 12” tiles will be used in creating the mural. When it is completed sometime this September, it will measure 20’ wide and 6’ deep.
Residents and visitors to Leesburg will be able to view and enjoy the mural at its home on the newly constructed Restroom Project building located in historic downtown Leesburg on the corner of Third and Main. The building was designed to look like an old storefront from the late 1800s. The mural will be mounted on an exterior wall.
Thaw has done tile projects with other Florida cities such as St. Cloud and Lake Worth. In St. Cloud, he created tiles of vintage Osceola County scenes, mounted on wood and presented as awards. A similar concept was used in Lake Worth. Additionally, Thaw will be using tiles to create directional and informational signage for Leesburg.
The process of creating the art tiles consists of scanning a printed image to a reverse transfer. Then, using high heat and pressure, the transfer is applied to the chemically treated tile. The finish on the tile can be satin, matte, gloss, tumbled stone, marble, porcelain and glass.
Thaw brings over 20 years of art and graphic design and printing expertise to his company, 2wo Cool Cats Studios. He has worked as an offset printer, an art director for magazines and trade publications, and as a publisher for magazines. Thaw’s business is conveniently located in downtown Mount Dora at 777 North Donnelly Street.
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