Stair Art
Art for the Stairs
As discussed earlier, these stair risers are designed with a recessed area where mosaic or other raised media can be applied without extending over the stair tread. This area can be lettered with poetry, ornamented using many different kinds of durable media, or have a combination of poetry and ornamentation applied.
Examples of the types of durable media that could be used for ornamentation are ceramic tiles that can be applied to the surface of the stair risers, stains or dyes that penetrate the porous surface of the concrete, and processes that may actually penetrate the surface of the concrete such as sand blasting.
Ornamental stair risers may be used above and below blocks of poetry as a type of ornamental frame, or used to fill areas of the staircases where the poetry does not. There may also be staircases where only ornamental stair risers are used. These ornamented staircases may have a thematic design such as a rainbow that begins at the bottom of the staircase and extends to the top.
Similar to the poetry competitions proposed for written stair ornamentation, there could also be competitions among Pittsburgh’s youth for graphical designs of the stair risers. Designs could be submitted on paper in many different kinds of media such as paint, crayon, or magic marker, and then these designs could be applied to the stair risers in more permanent media like tile or sandblasting by the artisans who will cast and fit the stair risers in concrete.