In 2021, I was honored to be commissioned by the City of Austin to create a permanent floor mosaic artwork for the Barton Springs Bathhouse.
With this opportunity, I was invited to dream into the spirit of Barton Springs—its biodiversity, its sacredness, and the generations of people who continue to be captivated by its waters.
From the very beginning, I held one phrase in my heart: Water is for Everyone.
This guiding intention was shaped by the Springs’ history of segregation, and by the bravery of young activists—especially Joan Means Khabele—who helped reclaim this public space for all.
The final artwork is titled: Entre Agua y Estrellas, or Between Water and Stars.
Final design by artist, Lys Santamaria, 2024. This will soon be a permanent mosaic floor mural project at the Joan Means Khabele Bathhouse at Barton Springs Pool. Commissioned by the City of Austin, Texas.
Estrellas: the stars
The stars in this piece were inspired by conversations I had with Gary Perez, a researcher and leader in the Native American Church.
Gary shared that the stars above us mirror the land in some sacred sites around the world - Barton Springs is one of these places. Three mountains near Driftwood, Texas, align perfectly with Orion’s belt—and if you follow the line down to Orion’s left foot, it geographically aligns with Barton Springs. Nearby, the shape of Colorado River mirrors the constellation Eridanus.
These constellations literally reflect the geography beneath our feet. Barton Springs isn’t just a swimming hole—it’s a celestial map, a bridge between the stars and the soil.
Scale & Reverence
In Entre Agua y Estrellas, the people are small and the plants and animals are substantially larger—intentionally so.
I wanted to remind viewers of our true scale within nature, and the importance of humility, reverence, and care.
Barton Springs is precious. It has existed far longer than we can imagine, and it’s up to us to protect it—for future generations of humans, animals, and plants alike.
The Heart of the Springs
At the center of the design is a radiant spectrum of light.
It symbolizes joy, healing, visibility, and the full range of what makes us human. It’s a heartspace for everyone.
This light also honors the indigenous creation story of Barton Springs—where a spectrum of light came down from the skies, struck limestone, and the springs burst forth.
A Labor of Love
Creating this design was joyful—and a deep labor of love.
I created over five full versions and refined the final one more than ten times to get it just right. Every element, from endangered salamanders to native wildflowers, was researched, hand-drawn, and infused with meaning.
Inspired by Community
I spent months visiting Barton Springs—listening, sketching, and gathering stories.
Many of the tiny mosaic people are inspired by real-life swimmers, musicians, and all people who love Barton Springs. Representing the many shades of skin tones was really important to me as I wanted everyone to be able to see themselves in this design.
Fabrication & Collaboration
Bringing this piece to life has taken the brilliance of two incredible fabricators:
Helios Glass Studio – Austin, TX
Created the fused glass elements, including the people and stars, alongside a group of amazing community volunteers who I became friends with and just filled my heart with so much joy. Led by the very lovely and gifted glass artist, Kristine Shafer. Click here to read more about the amazing fused glass process for this project visit: https://heliosglass.com/happenings/barton-springs-project
So how did I find Kristine? Like so many of the different parts of this process, it was all in perfect timing and very magical. A mosaic mentor of mine, Dianne Sonnenberg, had worked with Kristine on a previous public art project as well. I had been searching and researching the various ways that these small figures could be made. Ceramics was a good choice but not ideal for longevity—a floor gets lots of wear and tear, and a small crack in ceramic would likely lose some of the color glazed on the top layer. Another option was creating them out of mosaic glass, but that would make the people really choppy and they would lose their quirky personalities—or possibly get lost within the rest of the mosaic. Mosaic glass also has limited skin tones, and capturing the full spectrum of skin color was super important to me.
So when I met Kristine, she pulled out a box of skin tone tiles that she had created back in 2020! My jaw literally dropped seeing over 100 different colors of skin tones right in front of me! At that moment, I knew Kristine and her crew at Helios would be a perfect match for this project.
The energy, excitement, and creative vision that this team brought to the project is something I’m incredibly thankful for. Every detail was accounted for and perfected. It was great to work alongside them—sharing laughs, stories, time creating, and working out problems. My heart feels so grateful and full just thinking about their work on this!
Thanks to all of the volunteers: Kristine Shafer, Sarah Goodman, Susan Sorahan, Becky Shelby, Betty Day, Kay Sorahan, Sarah Bolm, Karen Watson, Taylor Vaughan, Shelly Lance, & Stacey Bolnick.
Amanda E. Mosaics – Santa Rosa, California
Specialist in public mosaics, Amanda fabricated all water, flora, and fauna using smalti glass from Italy and Mexico. I selected her because of her deep artistry and technical expertise. I even traveled to California to assist with the fabrication process. It was an unforgettable experience and gave me such a deeper appreciation for the technique involved in creating Lithomosaics. Amanda is one of very few lithomosaic experts in the USA, most of which live in California, which is another significant reason why I wasn’t able to build this mosaic locally - I needed her guidance and help with all of the intricate details that go into creating this very important piece for our city.
I spent two weeks in California with Amanda, her team and her sweet family. What a treasure it was to have her kids around who were excited about the mosaic - her two-year-old son even named all the fishes after himself and his brothers - Apollo, Rocky and Beau! How adorable! It was a glimpse into what I hope many children will feel when they see this mosaic in the future.
Building this mosaic was not easy - some might call it torture! It involves sitting on the ground for over 8 hours every day - most days closer to 14 hours a day! Shoes are not allowed on the mosaic and there is broken glass everywhere. By the time I got back, my body was aching everywhere and my hands had cuts on every finger. But there are no regrets and it’s honestly all worth it and so much fun! It’s hard to explain how satisfying this process is even though it’s hard for the body to keep up. I had to be mindful and patient with myself - my body just isn’t used to sitting for so long! Thankfully, I had such a great team working alongside me that made the days go by quick and made the process fun. I was especially grateful for some pet therapy from a special assistant, Princess, who you can see yawning in the pictures below :)
Documentary and Behind-the-Scenes
I am so excited to announce that I have teamed up with Cine de Las Americas and a incredible documentarian film crew, Malikita Productions to capture all of the behind scenes of these project and installation. This is such a gift and happened with so much serendipity - I’m so grateful to have a team that can help me to share this important work with you! Mariana and Mayte, the two documentarians, are such kind souls and they’ve made me feel comfortable in front of the camera - which is a hard thing to do! They even traveled with me to California to capture even more intimate details and have been working so hard to keep up with me and my crazy schedule to make sure we can get this whole process available to be seen by you and all of the beautiful people of the city of Austin!
We are currently self-funding this entire film project and we need your help -if you know of any grants, people or places that can help - please share with me at santamarialys@gmail.com. If you are able to donate, that would be wonderful - donate using the button below:
Next steps
As of right now (2pm on April 24, 2025), the mosaic is being shipped in a freight truck from California to Austin. Starting on Tuesday, April 29, we will install this entire 300 sq foot piece into the bathhouse at Barton Springs. I am equally excited and nervous!
I’m grateful to have lots of help with this. There is an entire concrete and construction crew that will be doing the entire installation and Amanda is flying in from California to help make sure that everything goes well. The entire installation will take about 3 days. On day 1, we are going to be laying out all the different sections and making sure all of the tiles are accounted for and making any last minute changes, if needed. On day 2, T.B. Pennick & Sons, my concrete specialist team will be pouring the concrete and flipping over each piece of mosaic onto the wet concrete. On day 3, the team will clean up the piece and make sure it’s all setting well. It will be an intense few days! Please send us so much good and loving energy - that everything will go smoothly and that we can all work together to make this vision come to life!
That’s all for now! I’ll be updating this page soon with installation day photos and details about the unveiling which is tentatively scheduled for the end of the summer. There is still other construction that will be happening in the space that needs to happen before the public is able to visit. Thanks for reading!
(THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION, STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES)
