New York, NY - Subway Edition
Museum of Natural History at 81st Street
Tucked away along the 2nd Avenue subway station, also known as the Q line. For Want of a Nail boasts insane detail in this mosaic tile art piece. Featuring reptiles, bugs, and life under the sea. The composition relates to the complex relationships of all living things. Animals portrayed in gray shades are now extinct while living animals are displayed in color.
Times Square - 42nd Street - IRT West Side Line
A recent installation of a large-scale mosaic tile art by Nick Cave. In 2021, Cave unveiled a massive 3-section mural through the IRT West Side Line. “Each One, Every One, Equal All” is the largest mosaic artwork in the New York transit system. At 3,200 square feet of covered wall, waiting for the next sub is surely entertaining. Colors of the natural earth above are brought into the musty station underneath.
Source: Nikkiink
San Francisco, CA - Staircase Edition
As we discuss the beauty of mosaic tile art, when visiting a staircase mural, you MUST start at the bottom to experience the full effect of mosaic art.
16th Ave
Designed by artists Colette Crutcher and Aileen Barrin and finished in 2005. The 163-step stairway contains more than 75,000 tile, stained glass, and mirror details. Every beauty of the ocean swimmers to the set of the horizon and beyond past the stars. While ascending the 16th Avenue mosaic tiled stairs, approaching the “moon” section, grab a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge!
Hidden Garden Steps
Crutcher and Barr didn’t just stop their street mosaic tile art at the 16th Avenue staircase. In 2013 they found a new canvas in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset District at Kirkham Street. This intricate stairway blooms with flowers, monarch butterflies, and wild mushrooms. Covering 9 different sections with a count of 148 steps. Each of the 9 sections has its own unique flair that flows seamlessly along the entire staircase. Mushrooms, a rainbow of colorful flowers, and overflowing with all of nature’s little helpers like bees and butterflies.
Lincoln Park Steps
Down the road at 33rd Avenue reaching the Outer Richmond district, you will be greeted at Lincoln Park structured beautifully by the local private girls’ school. This staircase was engulfed in beautiful foliage and an array of earth-tone colors. The mosaic tile-filled staircase leads you to the most beautiful view of the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
Philadephia, PA
Traveling down Jessup Street in South Philadelphia, you may be confused with its alleyway demeanor. Although parts of this mosaic decorated street, the art is all an arms-reach away. You feel like you have been engulfed in the story yourself.
Magic Gardens
As you approach South Street, you will be faced with the central point of Philadelphia’s mosaic tile street art.
Isaiah Zagar is the most profound artist among the Magic Gardens mosaic tile street art. His amazing artwork is not only showcased from the outside view of Philadelphia, but also in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the States Academy of the Fine Arts.