Prairie Mosaic

A Fort Worth artists work will help teach ex-offenders a skill and a sensibility.

With the help of 10 former jail inmates, Fort Worth artist Pamela Summers is getting ready to install a 240-foot mosaic ribbon for the city of Grand Prairie. It wont be her first time working with those who have been through the criminal justice system, but it will be the biggest public art piece of her career.

Summers, whose mosaics can be seen in Fort Worth parks and along the Trinity Trails, is teaming up with participants in Grand Prairies Weed-N-Seed job-training program. The group of ex-offenders will install the mosaic that Summers designed along a concrete retaining wall on Northeast 15th Street off I-30.

As part of the program, participants receive tile work training and basic art education. The aim is to weed out crime and seed in beneficial practices to help ex-offenders gain job skills. Besides tile skills, the nonviolent offenders will learn about bringing an artistic design to life.

Were not trying to turn them into artists were trying to turn them into someone who can install art, said Tammy Chan, special projects manager in the city managers office.

Chan has managed the Weed-N-Seed program since 2002. She also works with the public streetscaping coordinator and the Keep Grand Prairie Beautiful program. I try to merge all three whenever possible, and this project represents that, she said.

A $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and donations from local sponsors are funding the $185,000 project.

The Grand Prairie Sports Facilities Development Corporation is matching the NEA grant. The corporation, which operates Lone Star Park horse track, promotes city projects that reduce unemployment. Local commercial tiling companies Five Star Flooring and ARDEX Americas hosted grant-funded workshops on grout and mortar and how to prepare the wall for the mosaic. Grant money is also paying for online courses from the University of Ceramic Tile and Stone, in which participants will earn certifications to help them find future jobs.

The Weed-N-Seed re-entry program is about to shrink. In the future, it will be open only to Grand Prairie residents and will serve half as many people per year about 60 rather than the current 120, said Andy White, assistant to the city manager.

White said no final decisions have been made. Currently, only 25 to 30 percent of participants find full-time work because many dont have the needed documents, like a state-issued identification card, he said.

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Prairie Mosaic