Middletown has historically been shaped by our relationship to the Connecticut River. However, the construction of Route 9 severed the heart of the city from the river – the end result being that pedestrians must now walk through a long and poorly-lit industrial concrete tunnel to reach the waterfront. What if we could transform the tunnel, creating a destination that would draw people to Middletown, downtown businesses, and the developing riverfront?
The TunnelVision project uses mosaic – an ancient and lasting medium perfectly suited to the tunnel walls – to tell the story of the history of our town. We stand on the very surface of a living world, in constant motion measured in seconds and eons. Some soil creatures live for a single day, while we count our own time in decades. These timelines overlap, interact, and impact each other, even though their scales are exponentially different.
The TunnelVision mosaic will evoke an archaeological dig exploring this interwoven history – human, natural, paleological, and geological – from the Precambrian dawn of life on Earth through the present day, so it can all be experienced simultaneously as one walks from the start of the tunnel at Mellili Plaza to the opposite end at the Connecticut River.
Every phase of the TunnelVision mosaic project features maximum community involvement. Discussions with artists, researchers, and community members will drive the visual story. In tile-making workshops, artists will create mosaics with the assistance of a diverse group of community members, with an emphasis on school children and North End residents. Finally, artists will lead community members in assembling mosaics on panels for installation.
The project also foregrounds collaboration throughout the town, bringing together the City of Middletown, Wesleyan University, Middlesex Community College, Middletown Public Schools, Wesleyan Potters, the Middlesex Historical Society, and other organizations to work towards a common goal.
A kernel of the tunnel project has already seen the light of day as ‘Mosaics on Main’, a series of mosaic panels currently on display on Main Street. Middletown Artist Kate Ten Eyck and Downtown Business District (DBD) Chair Jen Alexander realized that Kate’s concept for revitalizing the tunnel with historical mosaics could be applied to an existing Federal grant commissioning artists to design temporary installations for empty storefronts.
After discussing the project parallels, the DBD and Ten Eyck entered into a partnership called Mosaics on Main. Now, local artists create their themed mosaics on standard-sized panels, making for easy installation in Main Street display windows. The panels are designed to be refitted for easy installation as a permanent part of the Harbor Park TunnelVision project, meaning that funding for the tunnel mosaic has already been partly covered with existing Federal and State funds.
The first pieces in the Mosaics on Main series are already on display in the old Woolworth’s building at 428 Main Street, with more being added along the street through the end of 2024.
Please click an image to view at full size.
Please email info at mosaicsonmain dot com to learn more
about TunnelVision or participate/support.
Watch this space for a mailing list and contact info, coming soon!