About the Clarifier Project

Chalk drawings on the surface, 2006

After the dedication September, 13 2015

The Project was started in 2006 after the successful creation of the Lyons Mural: Lyons Past Present and Future, that is now permanently displayed on the west side of the Visitors Center in Lyons, CO. The creative force behind the Mural was a team of artists including Cathy Rivers and Candace Shepard. By the completion the that project a new fledgling organization was formed, Confluence Community Arts. CoCoA is a arts organization that develops and advances collaborative community arts initiatives and educational opportunities in Lyons, Colorado.

Long time resident and gifted artist, Candice Shepard, recognized the shell of a former wastewater treatment tank as a potential site for a community arts collaboration and thus the project was born. Since that time the organization has shifted and changed and situations beyond our control made significant alterations in the original timeline. The vision is still the same: to work with the community to create public art that is made in the spirit of collaboration.

In 2010 we were able to make the leap to beginning densely covering every inch the roughly 900 square feet of surface area. Working with sandstone masonry, mosaic, hand painted tiles and hand made tiles we are creating a simple landscape. 4 sandstone trees mark the cardinal directions in a 360 degree landscape that echoes the contours in the horizon around Lyons. The sky is stylistically divided into simple cloud forms and curves that radiate out from the trees. The sky is also made up of over 1000 hand-painted made from citizens at home in Lyons and visiting. We will be working all summer long in 2011, especially on sunday mornings and wednesday afternoons. Please consider signing up to receive up-dates through this blog site, http://www.clarifierproject.net, so that you can come and participate in the evolution of this bit of community art collaboration.

A big THANK YOU everyone who participated by making tiles, painting tiles, mosaicing and supported us with your friendship and encouragement. Thank you to The Town of Lyons, Urban Oasis Design, Lyons Community Foundation, Lyons Historical Society, Boulder County Arts Alliance, Loukonen Brothers Stone Company, Lyons Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, SCFD Tier III, Motawi Tile Works, Lyons Volunteers, Appelfeller Arts, Clarks Hardware, The Stone Cup, Steamboat Mt Foods Redstone Review, The Lyons Recorder, Mystie Brackett in memoriam of her sister Cynthia, Garima Fairfax & Tosh, Darcie Sanders & Lenny Karpel, LaVern Johnson, Sally Pillsbury, Peter Baumgartner, and many others. Thank you