Here I Grew Up-Cedar Herald Index

Here I Grew Up, is a public artwork by American artist Garo Z. Antreasian, located on the lower level of the Indiana Government Center North building, which is near Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. This mosaic depicting five stages of Abraham Lincoln's life in Indiana between the ages of 7 and 21 can be found on the west side of the building by the escalators leading down to the tunnel to Indiana Government Center South. The mosaic is located between the cafeteria's entrance and an automated teller machine.

Description

Here I Grew Up is a mosaic mural on a travertine marble wall that measures 70 ft. in length and 25 ft. in height. It contains over 300,000 hand-cut pieces of Bysantine Smalti (Glass tiles) in 87 different hues. These tiles measure approximately 3/8" x 5/8" x 1/9" thick and were imported from Murano, Italy. The design for the mural was chosen as a winning entry for an art competition held in December 1959, by the Indiana State Office Building Commission. Antreasian's mural entry, along with Young Abe Lincoln (sculpture) by David Rubins, was selected by a jury to commemorate Abraham Lincoln's formative years in Indiana. Antreasian's full-scale color drawings of the Abraham Lincoln figures took six months to complete.

Here I Grew Up

Fabrication

The fabrication of the mural was completed by Herron School of Art graduate Ralph Peck and his assistant, Mrs. Charles Pitts. Before Peck and his assistant began their work, the marble wall in the Indiana Government Center North was sandblasted to proper depth by using a full-size sketch of the mural as a guide. Peck and his assistant then affixed the glass tiles to the reverse side of Antreasian's sketches that were printed on a large roll of paper. The pair then cut out each Lincoln section, called a cartoon, and coded the square and rectangle pieces for coloring and positioning. It took one year to set the pieces in mortar.

Here I Grew Up

Before the mosaic was unveiled to the public, lettering and brass edging for the mosaic figures were added to the wall. The title of the piece, "Here I Grew Up", is located right of center in gold, cursive letters with a height of 14.6 inches. "Here I Grew Up" is a quotation from Abraham Lincoln regarding his time spent in Indiana. Below the title, the following commemoration appear in brass letters that measure 3.1 inches in height: "Abraham Lincoln, our finest contribution to civilization shaped on the soil of Indiana from age 7 to 21". Original plans for the commemoration indicated a difference in Lincoln's age: "Abraham Lincoln, Our Finest Contribution to Civilization, Shaped on the Soil of Indiana From Age 8 to 21."

Here I Grew Up