Below you will see some of our completed projects.
Seed of Life 8.4 Memorial
On the morning of August 4, 2019, a gunman opened fire in Downtown Dayton’s historic Oregon District, killing nine and wounding nearly 37 innocent people in the process. As the city mourned, nearly 4 years passed before a call came forward, requesting proposals to honor our 9 lost lives through the creation of a memorial.
Architect Terry Welker contacted me to join a team with he and Sierra Leone, to lead a collaborative effort as a component of the memorial. The three of us set out to brainstorm a design and apply for the 1st round. After several creative sessions at the downtown library, I introduced the idea of using sacred geometry in our design. A search brought up several symbols, and The Seed of Life was chosen to represent our message.
Sacred Geometry is defined in the Urban Dictionary as “the underlying geometry in nature.” It is shapes in nature, fractals, reoccurring patterns, and ratios. The meaning of this symbolism suggests that the life processes in the Universe as a whole are interconnected. The Seed of Life is based on the concept that life is a divine creation.
With our Seed of Life Memorial design we made it through the first round and were asked to develop a full proposal and pitch. We enlisted the help of Dayton Visual Artist James Pate, and began to work through a myriad of design details, drawings, plans, sentiments and words. In the end, four Daytonians won the honor of creating a memorial and telling a story, so important and so intricately woven into our hearts.
My job in all of this was to lead the creation of a collaborative mosaic that would give an entire city the opportunity for trauma release and healing from this deep wound. On January 7th, 2024 Team Mosaic began a series of collaborative efforts to engage as many Daytonians as possible to complete the 500 square foot, porcelain tile ground piece and install it in the Historic Oregon District by the 5 year anniversary on August, 4th.
In 7 months Team Mosaic visited over 40 locations in the Miami Valley region and collaborated at the downtown library 20 times to engage over 5000 people in the creation of the largest component of the memorial.
The memorial to honor the lives of our nine, was created by our people. The words Sierra found in our broken hearts will tell our story forever. The Seed of Life is a symbol, like the mosaic process, that stands for the unity of everything that exists.
I have learned that grief is The universal language that connects us all. Grieving hearts do not keep time, but contents within beholden to memory. A contagion that revives pain and craves connection and understanding. Over 5000 people put their grief energy to rest in this piece. I encourage you to go feel it, and remember those no longer with you.
Thank you Dayton! For those of you who met us at the table and those who couldn’t, We love you.
Thank you Team Mosaic.
In memory of Derrick Fudge, Beatrice Warren-Curtis, Megan Betts/Jordan Cofer, Thomas McNichols, Lois Oglesby, Nicholas Cumer, Saeed Saleh, Logan Turner, and Monica Brickhouse.
Terry Welker, Sierra Leone, Jes McMillan, James Pate & Team Mosaic
’The Seed of Life 8.4 Memorial’ ~ 2024
Porcelain tile - 500 sq ft
Located at 530 E 5th St, Dayton, OH 45402
Our Farm Sanctuary
Jes McMillan, Our Farm Sanctuary, Projects Unlimited & Team Mosaic (Tipp City, OH)
’OFS Family’ ~ 2024
Porcelain tile - 280 sq ft
Located at 6495 Agenbroad Rd, Tipp City, OH 45371
This mosaic was a gifted to our partner organization Our Farm Sanctuary from Projects Unlimited and The Wyse Family Foundation, in recognition of their dedication to saving the lives of misfit animals and rehoming cats and dogs.
We engaged community in the Northern regions of the Miami Valley for nearly 18 months to complete almost 300 sq ft of mosaic. About half of the mosaic is on a 6.5 ft tall pillar and half is on a 12 foot in diameter ground piece.
The Pillar mosaic features animal friends that have lived on the farm and have been a part of the OFS family. Matilda, a crooked necked alpaca, greets you as you approach the piece. The ground mosaic features 3 different landscapes filled with creatures, some hidden within the piece.
Our Farm Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides shelter, food, veterinary, and adoption services for rescued, unwanted, abandoned, and abused animals of all sizes, from domestic pets to farm animals and in-between.
Our Farm’s mission is to ensure these animals are cared for until their natural end.
Support this amazing organization here:
The South Park Lady
Jes McMillan & Team Mosaic (Dayton, OH)
’The South Park Lady’’ ~ 2024
Porcelain Tile - 40 sq ft (5’ x 8’)
Located in the South Park Historic Neighborhood
We made the SouthPark Lady with community members from the South Park Historic neighborhood and surrounding areas, at Branch & Bone Artisan Ales, Jimmies Ladder 11 and the South Park Tavern.
‘Centering’
Premier Health Network | Culture Works | Miami Valley Foundation
Jes McMillan, Premier Health & Team Mosaic (Dayton, OH)
’Centering’ ~ 2022
Porcelain & Stained Glass - 144 sq ft (12’ x 12’)
Located at Premier Health, Miami Valley Region
This mosaic was designed by Jes McMillan to fit the theme ‘Centering’ for a network wide, Premier Health employee wellness initiative. The Wellness Program was organized by Culture Works Dayton and included several other alternative healing experiences including sound healing.
Team Mosaic prepped materials for 2 weeks leading up to the initiative so that everything was in place to easily engage a high volume of participants. The team finished the mosaics over a 2 week period following the initiative, adding up to a 6 week in total project execution timeline.
One design was broken down into 11 separate mosaic boards and sent to 11 different medical facilities across the Miami Valley Region. The pieces remained at these locations for 14 days, where we engaged over 10,000 participants to create the mosaics. In partnership with Culture Works we developed a ‘Healing Arts Ritual’ video to walk participants through breath work, coming to an awareness of pain and the releasing ritual of that pain into the mosaic. The goal of this entire Employee Wellness Project was to provide those who are dedicated to keeping Us All alive and healthy, avenues of healing from Covid Trauma.
‘The Seedling’
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Pre-School Promise | Dayton RTA
Jes McMillan & Team Mosaic (Dayton, OH)
’The Seedling’ a Paul Laurence Dunbar gameboard ~ 2022
Porcelain Tile - 3 x 15 ft
Located in McIntosh Park, West Dayton
This mosaic gameboard was designed by Brian Lawrence, a Dayton Native, who grew up in West attending the same church as Paul Laurence Dunbar. He brings to life a famous PLD poem ‘The Seedling’, featuring a young Paul & friend reading.
This PLD Mosaic gameboard was commissioned by Pre-School Promise and gifted to the Dayton Regional Transport Association, (RTA). The mosaic was lead by the Mosaic Institute and completed by Team Mosaic in the South Park neighborhood studio.
‘Together We Rise’
Learn to Earn Dayton | Pre-School Promise | Omega CDC | Leadership Dayton
Jes McMillan (Dayton, OH)
’Mosaic of Hope’ ~ 2021
Porcelain Tile - 260 sq ft
Located at the hope center, North Dayton
This game board was designed with the aid of Pre-School Promise, to engage infant to 3 years and beyond. The placement of the mosaic just outside of the Hope Center on Omega property is to encourage play and connection between older and younger members of the community as there is a pre-school and Senior Living facility also on the Omega Campus.
The Kenta Cloth Bird design was created by Boog the Illustrator, a Dayton Native. The video above was created as part of the Learn to Earn Dayton 2021 & Pre-School Promise Annual Summit. As a part of this virtual event, 600 tiles were included in kits and sent out to attendees. During the event messages of hope were written on the tiles and then later sent to us in the mosaic studio. We took those tiles to North Dayton and the community placed them in the HOPE mosaic gameboard, creating the first Virtually Collaborative Mosaic mural.
The Mosaic of Hope ‘Together We Rise” was commissioned by Learn to Earn Dayton & Pre-School Promise and gifted to the Omega Community Development Corporation with donations from Baker Concrete Construction and Ernst Enterprises, Inc. The mosaic was lead by the Mosaic Institute and completed by Leadership Dayton, 2021 L2E summit attendees, and volunteers from the North Dayton community.
Flight Games
Jes McMillan, Vincent Detrick & Team Mosaic (Dayton, OH)
’Flight Games’ ~ Hopscotch 2021 - Seek & Find 2022
Porcelain & Concrete - HOP 3’ x 15’ - S&F 5’ x 6’
Located in Wright Dunbar, Aviation Heritage National Park
‘Flight Games’ consists of a 17’ long Airplane Hopscotch and a scene of the Wright Brother’s including 31 hidden objects relevant to flight. This mosaic was made possible by a Montgomery County Cultural Arts, Special Projects grant administered by Culture Works.
1.Airplane Hopscotch
at the Fifth Cycle Shop (LOT) 1129 W. Third St.
Play alone or with others. Hopscotch is a popular playground game in which players toss a small object, called a lagger, onto the game board. IInstead of numbers, this hopscotch has airplanes! The object is to hop from plane to plane but you must be facing in the direction of the next plane when you land. It's a twist at the hip hopscotch! So have fun trying to pull off 360s in the air!
Use the lagger on the alphabet clouds to count letters and hops. Or why not mix it up by tossing a lagger directly onto the targets. Who can get a bullseye?!! With numerous elements in this piece, you can create your own hopscotch game.
2. Wright Brother's Seek & Find Mosaic –
At 16 S. Williams St. Located near the door of the National Park’s Visitor Center.
This mosaic gameboard has 31 objects relevant to FLIGHT hidden within it. Some are easy to find... some aren't. All of them have a story. Tour the Aviation Heritage Museum and then play this game to identify many objects of importance you learned about while visiting the National Park.
Hidden objects:
9 BIRDS
Wilbur Wright
Orville Wright
The Wright Bicycle Shop
Van Cleve Bicycle
Sprocket 1
Sprocket 2
Chain Link
Van Cleve Bicycle Badge
The Wright Flyer
Piston
Hawthorne Leaf
‘S’ for Scipio
Cow 1
Cow 2
Moon
Apollo 11
Wright Brother’s National Monument
Kitty Hawk Dunes
Propeller 1
Propeller 2
Print Block
National Park Service Arrowhead
‘9 Doves’
Gem City Shine Healing Mosaic
Jes McMillan & TEAM MOSAIC (Dayton, OH)
’9 Doves’ ~ Dayton shooting memorial, 2019
Porcelain & Concrete - 5’ x 6’
Located in City Hall
We designed, prepped and lead the creation of this memorial mosaic as a therapeutic first response to tragedy. It was started with the Dayton community during Dave Chappelle’s ‘Gem City Shine’ event August 25th. Hundreds of people, before placing the tiles, wrote prayers and messages to honor the 9 lives that were taken on August 4th, 2019 during the Oregon District mass shooting. After the event the mosaic was set up to be finished in a more private setting and we welcomed many of the victim’s friends and families to honor their loved ones. The messages written in this mural are raw and filled with emotion from trauma. They are steps towards expression, understanding and healing.
The tile for this piece was donated by Daltile. Our local Home Depot donated some materials and my team of Mosaic Artists donated the time to create the doves, the hands and the yellow beams of light. All were completed in just 11 days before the event. Special thanks to award winning poet Sierra Leone for blessing the materials before we started and providing a healing and sacred space during the event. Thank you to the Contemporary Dayton for entrusting us with this honor. And most of all, thank you Dayton.
Unity Gem
Jes McMillan (Dayton, OH)
UNITY GEM, 2019
Porcelain Tile - 12’ x 9’
Location at the entrance of the Dayton Arcade on Court House Square
Over a thousand Daytonians placed a piece of porcelain tile in this mosaic ‘Unity Gem’ on August 2nd, 2019 during Dayton’s ‘Art in the City’ event. This was one of the largest mosaics we have attempted during a single event and the largest number of people so far that took part in a collaborative mosaic project in one day.
‘BEE Ambitious’
Jes McMillan (Kettering, OH)
Bee Ambitious, 2019
Porcelain Tile - HOP 3’ x 29’ - 10x Bees at 3’x'3’ each
11 Locations in the Haverstick Neighborhood
Discover a neighborhood through sidewalk games with the public artwork Bee Ambitious!
Placed in 11 locations around the Haverstick neighborhood, Bee Ambitious includes a broken beehive represented in a 29-foot mosaic on Mendota Court, and 10 mosaic bees scattered along Tabor Avenue, Reardon Drive, Colton Drive, Gay Drive, Wilmington Pike, and Forrer Boulevard.
The bees hold clues to a word scramble, with two to three letters found in their wings, and several more letters in the game board. In total, there are nine games that can be played in the artwork!
7th graders at Kettering Middle School created the Hopscotch mosaic and elementary kids at Beavertown Elementary created the Bee’s. Community helped out with the project at Rosewood Art Center.
Artist Bird Mural
Train overpass bridge at Keowee & First Street, Dayton
Article
https://www.dayton.com/lifestyles/here-why-birds-are-being-painted-along-downtown-dayton-bridge/hEPTihAYFWtD7EfafRnsVK/
Mosaic Walking Tour
City of Miamisburg
Impact Mosaic
Club Impact, Miamisburg's youth center.
Mound Elementary Mosaic
United Rehabilitation Services Mosaic
Bear Elementary Mosaic
Montgomery County STOP Mosaic
Montgomery County Monday Mosaic
American Legion Mosaic
City of Miamisburg
Bauer Elementary Mosaic
Kinder Elementary Mosaic
Mark Twain Elementary Mosaic
Lady Viking Mural
the Lady Viking, 2016
painted mural
Miamisburg, OH
The ‘Lady Viking’ was a mural donated to the city of Miamisburg, by The Mosaic Institute. The design was a collaboration between Jes McMillan, who developed the concept of a proud, art nouveau inspired female representation of Miamisburg’s mascot and mural painter Jennifer Sayger. McMillan used a model from stock photography for the female and crown (pictured above) and Sayger later added the “Mucha inspired“ elements of the hair and background. A team of Artists including: Lead Mural Artist - Jennifer Sayger; Ryan Whaley; Vincent Detrick, Zelestia Valasco and Jes McMillan volunteered to paint this mural.