New Copper Map Represents a World of Music
New Copper Map Represents a World of Music
A new installation in El Río illustrates how music unites cultures
MIM’s new copper map installation can be seen from the first and second floors of North El Río.
A new copper map in El Río symbolizes the museum’s mission to foster appreciation for the cultures of the world.
The map is made of copper to represent MIM’s home in Arizona, which is nicknamed the Copper State. It bears the inscription “Music is the language of the world,” a reflection of MIM’s motto, “Music is the language of the soul,” which can be seen on the welcome wall across El Río.
Exhibit designer Shelby Sickler started designing the map in 2023.
“Working on the copper map has been an exciting experience, blending art, technical design, and project management in a truly unique way,” Sickler says. “It’s an honor to contribute to the creation of something that will serve as a striking, beautiful, and meaningful addition to El Río for years to come.”
Once Sickler perfected the map’s design, she drew each shape—more than 50 in total, from large continents to tiny islands—in the digital drafting program AutoCAD. She shared the digital drawings with Creative Machines, a Tucson-based design and fabrication firm that specializes in engineering and constructing sculptures and installations for museums and public spaces. At their facility, the Creative Machines team used a high-pressure water-jet cutting machine to precisely cut each piece of the map from sheets of copper plate.
Creative Machines also engineered the backboard and highly customized standoff system that holds the copper pieces in place, designed a safe installation system for the completed project, and etched labels into the back of each map piece for assembly.
After the pieces were fabricated, artists Tim Church and Monard Nichols applied surface treatment to the copper. At their studio in Murphy, Texas, Church—whose patinated copper work inspired the map’s organic contours and color palette—and Nichols used chemicals and natural processes to add patina to the metal, creating rich tones on each copper piece, then sealed the surface with a clear coat of epoxy resin.
The colorful patina on the copper map’s surface is sealed with epoxy resin.
Fully assembled, the map is more than 12 feet long by more than seven feet high and weighs more than 400 pounds. Guests can see it from the first and second floors of North El Río, and it bids an inspiring farewell as they exit the museum after a visit.
“I hope guests’ first reaction will be admiration for the map’s beauty, especially the colors and abstract shapes created through the complex patina process,” Sickler says. “Beyond that, I hope they’ll connect with the deeper concept behind it and understand why we chose to express the idea that music is the language of the world. We wanted to convey how music transcends boundaries, uniting continents and cultures.”
Exhibit designer Shelby Sickler (right) discusses the map fabrication process at the Creative Machines facility.
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