Elsie McCarthy Sensory Garden
7561 N. 55th Avenue
(N. 55th and Orangewood)
Fountain of Youth
Artist: Kristine Kollasch
Ceramic Tile and Painted Mural
August, 2015
Artist, Kristine Kollasch, worked with the following partners for the “Fountain of Youth” project:
- The Glendale Parks & Recreation Division
- Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona
- Northview Shelter
- Diana House Shelter
As a public artist, Kristine Kollasch believes in the power of community art involvement as a catalyst for community pride, ownership and respect for one’s surroundings. In keeping with this concept, the artist proposed a project that would engage teens living in Glendale group homes in the process of creating permanent public art at the Elsie McCarthy Sensory Garden. The project proposed to artistically revitalize the “Contemplation Garden” at the park, a round walled area with a fountain that no longer functioned. The project involved turning the dry fountain into a fountain-like planter with mosaic tiles created by the participating teens, and painting a mural on the interior round wall of the area.
In collaboration with Free Arts For Abused Children of Arizona, the artist conducted 18, two-hour workshops in July 2015 -- 9 workshops at each of the two group homes (one that houses ten boys, ages 13-17 and another that houses five girls, ages 13-17). As part of the design process, the artist engaged the teens in discussions about the potential of youth and the dreams for the future. Over the course of the workshops, the teens designed and created over 1,000 unique mosaic tiles as they worked with the artist to design the planter and the concept for the mural wall.