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Local artist to speak on downtown installation
Topping of f the beaut i f icat ion of Veterans Memorial Park stands “Synchronicity of Color Wall for Elgin 2024,” a vibrant centerpiece drawing praise from residents as a symbol of the city’s inevitable growth. Downtown Elgin’s 20-foot-long mosaic wall comes courtesy of Margo Sawyer, an Elginite and internationally recognized artist set to lead an art talk during the piece’s dedication ceremony Nov. 3. The artist designed the wall using materials donated by Elgin Butler Bricks, a homage to the city’s history as the “brick capital of the southwest ,” with fi f t y unique hues. She supervised and worked with masons to ensure the final piece of art ref lects the initial intent and design.
“Synchronistic events, which reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework, like that of a quilt,” Sawyer said. “My art unites color, a metaphor that celebrates and honors our multicultural/ multidimensional world.”
The sleek and sharp installation has already drawn the eyes of residents exploring the updated park grounds.
“It’s beautiful, its colorful, it makes you feel happy — it brings positive change to town,” Estrellita Carlos said, who has lived in Elgin her whole life. “We haven’t seen change in a very long time and the direction it’s going right now is very positive. The town in general … Taylor has changed, Bastrop has changed, Elgin is changing and growing, and the change is great. We need this, we’re a little behind on schedule, but the change is coming.”
Elgin Butler Brick factory was established in 1873 just east of the city, and became famous for its extruded clay bricks glazed with ceramic color, according to the city.
Sawyer moved to Elgin in 1997, where she now resides with a studio, and works as a sculpture professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Her bright and prismatic installations have been displayed across the country and internationally, including the Austin Convention Center and the U.S. Embassy in Kosovo.
She has received numerous honors for her work, including the 84th Legislature Texas State Artist of the Year award, recognition from the American Academy in Rome Fellowship and is a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow.
Sawyer is “particularly interested in relationships between the experience of space and the experience of transcendence — and the ways in which the architectural and ritual converge to create a forum for contemplation and reflection.”
The dedication of “Synchronicity of Color Wall for Elgin 2024” begins at 3:30 p.m., Nov. 3, followed by an art talk at 4 p.m.
Along with Sawyer and Elgin Butler Brick, funding for the project came from the city and Sherri and Tres Rivers.
