FLOORS, WALLS, & CEILINGS

FLOOR 44: Tile Art Design collaboratively designed this Midwest Driftless Area mosaic map, with features specified by our client. We also created the floor mosaic, and furnished the mosaic materials for the floor map and the walls. This was installed and grouted using 4 different colors of Bostik Dimension Urethane Grout in a new home, located on the top of a bluff with a view of the Wisconsin River to the East. The first photo below shows a view of the map looking south. Boscobel, WI, 2017 - 2021.

Tile Art Design was commissioned to make a mosaic map for the sunroom floor in order to document the natural features and landmarks in this region. This map is a permanent installation that enables a way to tell the stories about the historic advocates for social justice in this region, by highlighting the places where they were born and/or where they passed through on their journeys in life.

The Midwest Driftless Area is a unique region that was untouched by the glacial advancement and retreat over millions of years. Since the natural landscape was uninterrupted by glacial erosion in this region, the flowing watershed of the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers carved out more than 150 million bluffs and narrow valleys. The owners of this new home chose the location at the top of a bluff overlooking the Wisconsin River, due to the unique topographical and geological elements, as well as the social justice history in this area. This mosaic map also documents historical and cultural events that happened prior to the development of industrial agriculture, and the consequential loss of some biodiversity in this region.

Tile Art Design furnished the mosaic tiles and other specialty map-marker materials. We designed the map to fit the 200 square foot sunroom floor, with the appropriate-sized mosaic pieces representing each of the features within a diameter of 120-140 miles, with the Boscobel / Blue River area close to the center of the design. We assembled the mosaic on top of printed 12” square topographic “map tiles”, at the Tile Art Design studio and at the jobsite, and then pre-set each mosaic sheet with clear contact tape on the face. Then we dry-laid the sheets of mosaic at the jobsite, filling in gaps where the irregular edges of adjoining sheets connected, in April-May of 2019. Installation and grouting of floor was completed by others in December, 2019.

Our client requested more mosaics to represent snow-capped glaciers for the sunroom walls in early February, 2020, and these were furnished by Tile Art Design on March 31, 2020. The installation of these glass wall tiles was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were installed by others in 2022, and we took photos in 2023.

Seven types of glass tiles represent different types of waterways and other details.
Tumbled broken stones represent the tops of bluffs, ridges, mesas, buttes, and pinnacles, which are the highest levels of elevation.
Herringbone-patterned glazed ceramic tiles represent the sloped edges of the bluffs and ridges, etc.
Pebble tiles represent rolling hills.
Square-shaped glazed tiles represent valleys and streams.
Hexagon-shaped Ming Green marble tiles represent glacier ice on the floor.
Scalloped-shaped Ming Green marble tiles represent the melting glacier ice around the perimeter of the map, just as it actually was 15,000 years ago.
Diamond-shaped white glazed ceramic tiles represent historic people from this region, who were involved with causes related to social justice.
Gold and copper round-shaped glass tiles represent important Native American landmarks.
Iridescent round-shaped glass tiles represent rural areas in Cheyenne Valley and Pleasant Ridge, Wisconsin, both before and after the Civil War, where African Americans settled and thrived alongside Norwegian, Irish, and Bohemian immigrants from Europe.
Special polished stones represent geological features, such as the Blue Mounds.
Brass ball chain represents the Niagara Escarpment, which extends along the north eastern part of Wisconsin, and then pops up again in various locations.
Stainless steel ball chain represents Highway 61, which has significance due to it’s proximity to our client’s home, as well as to their fondness of Bob Dylan’s music.
Copper ball chain represents Chief Black Hawk’s birthplace and his path as he fought for social justice, attempting to reclaim Native American territory lost in the Treaty of St. Louis.

We hope this inspires you to commission Tile Art Design to create a mosaic map of your favorite place, a map that expresses your relationship with the physical world around you. You may also know someone or an organization that is interested in this type of project. If so, please contact us by calling us or filling out the form on our CONTACT page HERE.

Please see the other photos below, taken in 2023 of this project. The Wisconsin state capitol building is represented by the 6 diamond-shaped tiles that are grouped together in the aqua colored glass tiles that represent the lakes in the Yahara River watershed.

View from the north of the western half of the map.

View from the north of the eastern half of the map.

View from the north.

View from the south.

View toward the northeast.

View to the east.

View toward the southeast.

View to the south.

View toward the southwest.

View from the south of the western area of the map, where the Wisconsin River meets the Mississippi River.

FLOOR 43: Tile Art Design furnished these basketweave stone mosaics for our client, who was remodeling their home in Wisconsin. They had enjoyed the same mosaic tiles in their previous home in Iowa, and were referred to us from our vendor located in California, an importer and distributer of the highest quality of marble and limestone tiles and slabs, as well as glazed porcelain tiles.

“I love the floor! It accomplished just what I wanted it to… perfect transition between main area and shower.” Jane K., Sister Bay, WI, 2023.

FLOOR 41 AND 42: Tile Art Design provided design services connecting with the style & colors of the exterior of this new transitional craftsman home. We collaborated with our client, who was the home builder, to furnish Syzygy Tile handcrafted tile materials for front foyer floor and glazed porcelain tile for mudroom/laundry room floor, two out of five areas, in this project. Big Bend, WI, 2018

FLOOR 40: Tile Art Design provided design and installation services for this organic floor and the steps to an indoor swim spa. We also furnished the broken tumbled stone mosaics, the glass tile border, and the ceramic handcrafted field tiles around the perimeter and as the stair nosing trim. This was the first project with this client in thier home. Madison, WI, 2009.

The second project was a collaboratively designed custom mosaic, furnished & installed in their RETRO, ECLECTIC, MID-CENTURY MODERN KITCHEN #52, HERE.