Along a pedestrian walkway at the Phoenix Convention Center’s North Building lies three mosaic murals that incorporate Phoenix and Arizona-specific imagery, using color and motion lines to elicit the feeling of people rushing all around. It's fitting for the walkway of our always-busy facility. It’s also a spot visitors love to stop and take photos before they head into their convention.
The piece, called “The Earth Dreaming,” was created by famed-mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar and features handmade tiles, mirror tiles, found objects, tile words and Zagar’s characteristic bright-colored grouts.
Zagar is an award-winning artist, most known for his work at the Philadelphia Magic Gardens. Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens is a nonprofit art environment and museum located in Zagar’s largest public artwork. Zagar and his wife donated another building to the Magic Gardens in September 2024, allowing the facility to expand. While Zagar was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and is no longer creating large-scale mosaics, he still maintains his relationship with the Philadelphia Magic Gardens.
Emily Smith, Philadelphia Magic Gardens Executive Director, who has access to archive information on Zagar’s work at the Phoenix Convention Center said “The Earth Dreaming” was created as a paneled piece on wood with plaster board.
“It was created as one piece but can be taken apart and re-fit back together sort of like a puzzle,” Smith said. “A very heavy puzzle. He would have hung the empty panels on the walls, added the mosaic, dismantled it, shipped it to Arizona, and with the help of his brother-in-law and Magic Gardens contractor, Rolo, put it all back together again.”
In all of his work, Smith said Zagar used a lot of found or donated tiles in addition to special heavy-duty porcelain tiles he made from his time at an artist residency in the Kohler warehouse.
“There are also tiles we call Surbek Waterjet tiles, which are special tiles made from Isaiah's drawings,” Smith said. “Those are made by a local company using high pressure water cutting techniques. A lot of the tiles which would have been found or donated tiles you can tell he modified by adding his own drawings onto.”
Smith said that Zagar’s joy was in the process of making the art, he was never trying to illicit a specific feeling in the audience.
“He always says, you feel what you want to feel,” Smith said.
His work at the Phoenix Convention Center remains a bright spot on our campus, and a favorite spot for selfies and group photos.
“He is extremely proud of this piece, that he was asked to do the commission, and that it remains at the Convention Center,” Smith said. “He was impressed with how it was hung, how professional the process was, and loved the lighting as well. He also loved his time in Arizona and the people he met there. It was very meaningful to him.”
To visit “The Earth Dreaming” head to the North Building at 3rd and Monroe streets and walk through the pedestrian walkway. To learn more about Zagar and the Philadelphia Magic Gardens, visit their website.