Motawi Murals Mix Art, Practicality
Detail of a Motawi mural installed on the 5th floor of the UM Hospital. This design is called the Button Basket.
Bill and Matt Ransom clearly are experts and take their work seriously, but there was plenty of good-natured ribbing between the father and son when The Chronicle peeked into their cloistered workspace on the 8th floor elevator lobby of the University of Michigan Hospital. When Matt poked his father with a tape measure while Bill was slathering tile mud on the wall – Bill just kept on working.
The Ransoms were installing an 8×10-foot mural designed by Motawi Tileworks, one of 14 “Tile Quilts” – each one unique – that the hospital has commissioned from Motawi since 2005. It’s a project that started out small but has now become a signature part of the building, and a kind of artful wayfinding system for patients and visitors.
The Chronicle heard about the recent installations at an Ann Arbor Public Art Commission meeting, when commissioner Elaine Sims reported to the group that another set of murals was going up in January. Sims is director of the Gifts of Art program at the University of Michigan Health System, which is responsible for the project. [Full Story]