To create her mosaic Goldsleger started by making an encaustic painting based on the first official map of Atlanta. Drawn in 1853, the map encompassed the entire town of the day—parts of Peachtree, Decatur, Wall, Pryor and Central Streets—about one square mile that still exist in our current downtown area. In 1853 the population of Atlanta was approximately 6000, having grown due to its location at the eastern end of the newly constructed Western and Atlantic Railroad that provided a trade route with the Midwest. With this intersection of transportation and growth in mind she focused her piece on this small piece of Atlanta’s history. Goldsleger feels that urban space and how it defines itself is one of the most telling aspects of a society. Her mosaic’s visually fragmented grid-like sectors, each angled slightly askew to one another, highlight Atlanta’s diverse interwoven communities that come together at its core to make Atlanta the rich, international city that it is. With that Goldsleger added a labyrinth framing the central image. The labyrinth underscores her personal fascination with geometry and serves as a counterpoint to the fluid organization of the central image. To Goldsleger the labyrinth acts as a metaphor for exploration both of Atlanta and any other destination a traveler may venture to from here. Through it she opens the invitation to public interaction with the design by walking the maze to contemplate travel, adventure, community and change. Cheryl Goldsleger is an artist based out of Athens, Georgia. Her mosaic was constructed primarily out of natural stone tiles and some glass.

Anita Arliss, a painter based in Atlanta, first began her image for the mosaic by investigating the design of the contemporary turbofan jet engine. She started with photos and digitally altered them to create a hybrid form that she sees as an exploration of external and internal realities. While pulling from this extremely technical and contemporary reference she playfully and purposefully recalls the classical mosaic floor motifs of antiquity. The imagery merges larger geometric arcs, evoking the uplift of flight, with smaller circles of rich, modulated colors. Her ambition was to give viewers a lyrical sense of harmony and equilibrium in motion as they walk within the Concourse center of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International. Arliss’ piece was made entirely out of manufactured glass tiles.

Don Cooper’s mosaic is based on a lifelong fascination he developed from an early 1950’s hand colored postcard of Stone Mountain. As a child the image reminded him of the arched back of some prehistoric animal; the stone seemed to swell up from the forest that surrounded it with various colored striations running down the sides. Years later he finally saw Stone Mountain in person and he was again startled and moved by the formation this time because of its enormity. Ever since then the mountain has been a fixture in much of his art. Cooper is enthralled by the mountain’s rich history of mystery, controversy and wonder. Created over 200 million years ago from the volcanic action of magma rising from within the earth’s crust, Native Americans possibly honored the mountain and used its summit for observation and protection. Today, 800 year old trees, rare wild flowers and unusual creatures inhabit the crevices and small pools in its surface. Modern man has quarried it, carved images in its surface and used it as a setting for recreation. For Cooper the mosaic he made for Concourse C pays homage this unique geological phenomenon in the midst of Atlanta. The orders of red and green vortices twist and turn describing the energy of the mountain’s formation. The sun and moon rise and set, revealing the light and dark sides of the mountain. As a result this vivid floor piece gives viewers a sense of place literally, geologically and spiritually as they pass through the hectic Concourse on their journey. Don Cooper works and resides in Atlanta. “Natural Wonder” was constructed from almost equal parts of manufactured glass and natural stone tiles.