Ideas for public art project?

A friend of mine is working on a 3D mosaic fish that will go on display in one of the public parks. She is a potter that has people come in to make a ceramic tile that will be incorporated into the mosaic.
I saw the drawings for this project and it looks great.The fish itself is about 6’ in length and will be installed in a waterfront park.
Research the place where you would like to install the art and maybe go with an idea relevant to the history or attractions in the area.
Good luck and have fun!

I second the idea of a mosaic type of art. I’m exhausted at seeing “graffiti style” painted murals covering every inch of flat space in our city.

Nikki de St. Phalle has made a lot of public art all over the country, but one especially, in Escondido, CA at Kit Carson Park is called the Iris Sankey Magical Garden Trail is a walled in (the wall is also covered in mosaic) art garden. Here is a wide view to give you some inspiration. And here is a detail and another detail She used handmade ceramics, mirrors, shells and found objects to create her mosaics.

Another thing that I have seen that is very fun to make and pleasant to look at is to invite peole (especially kids) to design a ceramic tile that will then be incorporated into a bigger piece of art. There may or may not be a theme to the kid’s designs, or you could grid off a picture and have the kids paint their section of tile (like you used to do in art class, only with ceramic tiles instead of drawings on a piece of paper). You could pick a famous painting like the Mona Lisa or you could have a kid or another artist create the original drawing or image and then it would be gridded off into 4 X 4 or 8 X8 or 12×12 inch tiles, in which each person’s section would be “replicated” by the kids, then the whole thing would be assembled on a wall or other 3-D object. Here’s an example of that But I’ve seen these types of tiles adhered to walls and all sorts of things, or layed out in courtyards. Here’s a very crude example of the grid method to illustrate the technique here

Here’s another really neat inspiration for a mosaic

I liked the first two ideas. Plus, MA has a lot of history to draw on for ideas. Perhaps some sort of the maritime theme would work.

How about a statue of a girl reading at the entrance to the local library.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to use the mosaic idea i just dont know what location I would use

i would use something that catches the eyes, but makes you forget your current surroundings. something that would make you day dream to that certain place in time that you want to go to right then, to help you forget your troubles or remember a happier time in your life.