Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

Project location: San Diego, CA

Award: 2022 ACI San Diego Awards: Art in Concrete Award

We are proud to have been involved with the installation of the Lithomosaic at Old Town Park located on the site of one of the oldest Kumeyaay Indian settlements. We were brought on board to help bring artist & Kumeyaay elder Michael Miskwish’s artistic vision to life with the assistance of Lithomosaic artist Wick Alexander.

According to Wick Alexander:

Michael’s intent was to make a celestial diagram that resembled a sand painting. The constellations were to reflect the Kumeyaay spirit animal associations to each constellation, four sacred mountains and a band of 4 colors that symbolized the 4 directions, 4 elements and 4 seasons, and a representation of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The majority of the tiles were integral-color porcelain. I selected colors that would be both subtle and reflective. The astrological formations were smalti glass which added reflectivity and a contrast to the porcelain. The integrally-colored concrete contrasted and brightened the bluish hues in the constellations and added to the “sand painting” effect.

The Galaxy was represented as an arc of Lithocrete-seeded white aggregates along with reflective materials and special artist-designed glass hexagons interspersed within. These accents enlivened and activated a monotone background.

According to Michael Miskwish:

For millennia, the Kumeyaay looked upon the sky and interpreted the patterns and motions of the stars and planets in a complex cosmology that guided, instructed and harmonized their daily, monthly and yearly actions.  From burning to harvesting to ceremonies, the sky has been a partner to the Kumeyaay lives.  It was common to draw in sand paintings representations of the constellations and geographical features of the area. This is the inspiration for the Lithomosaic which shows the summer sky constellations as they would appear reflected on the ground with geographical features marking the boundaries. 

Photos by: Nathan Padilla Bowen

Lithomosaics by: Wick Alexander