Mannino's Tiles

The twenty-one high-relief ceramic tiles located above the archways on the west loggia of the Carnegie Mellon University Center are the work of Joseph Mannino, an Associate Professor in the Art Department who specializes in sculpture and site-specific installation work.

Each high-fired ceramic tile is approximately 32" high by 10" wide. Their purpose is to add humanity and warmth to a monumental structure, to send out a quiet announcement that the University Center is for all to use and enjoy. Professor Mannino's main objective has been to add a human element, both visual and conceptual to the exterior of the University Center.

The content of each tile is a three-dimensional representation of individual hand gestures developed through intensive collaboration between Professor Mannino and each of his subjects. As the University Center is meant to embrace and serve all components of the campus community, the project involved the participation of a cross-section of individual members of that community as models for the figurative reliefs. Students, faculty, administrators, staff and alumnae are all represented by their various activities and gestures. Through this anonymous yet highly personal form of depiction, the multiplicity of the University community is represented. The gesturing hands also serve as an invitation – a beckoning – to all to enter.