Terry Weaver in town for the dedication of the new Encinitas " Welcome" sign

Congratulations to Terry Weaver... what a beautiful day today for dedicating years of work to joint venture this wonder "welcome" signage for Encinitas! It is so very colorful!

A bit about Terry's part of the design... (Tree Top Terry)

"My first task after being awarded the Downtown Encinitas Streetscape project was to create 16 images for approval by the City’s 3 member Arts subpanel. My directive was to capture the essence of Encinitas. So I focused on the City’s gems; Moonlight Beach, La Paloma, Swamies, The Boathouse, etc. I began this process in April 2001, creating 28 watercolor pencil images. I returned to Maui in May to work on my drawings. I flew back to Encinitas to sign my formal contract on September 6. While water-coloring my images the morning of September 11, 2001 I received a call from my mother telling me to turn on the news. Just as I did, I witnessed the second plane hitting the north tower. This image seemed surreal. I dedicated the Woodie, as my 911 Memorial- making the surfboards red, white and blue. To me, that Woodie mosaic will forever represent the day our world changed.

The subpanel approved 8 images I am to move forward on. Although going green is popular now, I’ve been a green artist for as long as I can remember. I had been visiting tile stores collecting scrap tiles from dumpsters and asking the companies to represent me for my mosaic build out. The company that offered the most help was Oceanside Glass and Tile. A sales/marketing representative named Dana called me to offer me some of their reject tiles. My father and I collected boxes and boxes of the beautiful glass tiles. This was my first time using glass tiles, and wow was it a game changer. I created glass tile skies and ceramic tile mix on the mosaics and blended them with multi-color grouts. This mix of glass tile and ceramic gives the mosaics another dimension that I had never seen before. I was excited to perfect it in my new City mosaics. This style of mosaic became a new design of mine that I still use today, 13 years later. With supplies in hand and my direction firmly in my head, I was well on my way for the next 6 months making and installing these fine art mosaic images.

Back on Maui:

I am still creating my collection of “Marine Mosaics” Here on Maui at my Polanui Art studio. I’ve been getting materials together for my mom and pup whales as well as my spotted eagle ray which will be a 6 foot mosaic. These mosaics will be lit up by LED making them an emotional and education piece.

Keep a watch for "Tree Top" Terry's blog next month! Hang loose.....

Tree Top Terry in Maui a former Encinitas local Artist

Promised and delivered from Maui, Treetop "Terry Weaver" is sharing his story of Encintas, CA and his artwork in the City.  Tales from the Tree House - 
Cont. from January; Mosaic Mon, Terry Michael Weaver.Encinitas – Subject Streetscape 2001 Award “The Story”.

Back in March, 2001, while visiting family and friends in Encinitas, I ran into a good friend and then Arts Commissioner, Thomas Soto. Tommy mentioned to me that the City of Encinitas was looking for local artists for the Downtown Encinitas Streetscape project. The Arts Commission wanted to incorporate public art into the street improvement project to make it more interesting. Tommy said, “they should have your mosaics downtown.” He directed me to city hall where I obtained specifications for the art –(16) 36” round medallion to be placed at specific locations. I took this very seriously as both my youth and my heart are rooted in Encinitas. The Downtown Encinitas Streetscape project offered me an opportunity to give something creative back to my hometown. I had only three days to prepare my presentation to the City Council. I had learned the importance of a good presentation while working in architectural firms, so I spent the entire three days preparing. I made 2 images: a horse jumping a gate and a classic Woodie. I printed them to actual size as requested on the spec sheet. I also included a real mosaic which was hung in our family’s dome house- a 2” round lion tile mosaic that I had made back in the early 80’s. I waited patiently as I was the last name in the competition to be called. I proposed that each of the 16 medallions would depict different aspects of the city. I then rolled out the 2 full size images and displayed my round mosaic lion. 

The Council was able to have a true visual of the actual sized art for the medallions. The votes followed and I was awarded the medallion project. I was excited and a little nervous. Reality was, that not only was I a commissioned artist, I was part of a major street renovation project that impacted the businesses on Highway 101. I realized how daunting 16 different image mosaics would be to design, manufacture and to also keep pace with the City’s construction schedule.

Meanwhile back  at home: The Maui Plein Air Painting Invitational (MPAPI) is a weeklong art event held every February in Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii. The MPAPI event is a great event where the public can watch professional plein air painters create their artistic visions of Maui, its people, the landscape, and historical buildings. Terry’s tree house is always a popular subject and this year no fewer than 5 of the 25 showcased artists chose this unique setting as their subject.



Next month: the Art Council and process of creating 16 pieces of art begins