Big Bowl of Ideas

02/04/2026

Good work deserves clear storytelling.

Our collaboration with the Kettering Foundation asked us to listen closely, design intentionally, and resist the urge to oversimplify. The result is an annual report that treats civic life with the seriousness it deserves.

In the first full year of our strategic plan, the foundation tackled new initiatives and found creative ways to work toward that vision.

11/20/2025

WE WON! Big Bowl of Ideas received an Anthem Award for our work on the project we called 'Worker Power is a Beautiful Thing." In the category of Human & Civil Rights Event/Activation for Awareness. Crafted for an SEIU-led Unions for All March in 2024, it had 3 elements -- a gigantic 'Arch of Resistance' (featuring artwork by Stephanie Mercado and graphic design by James Binanski), a 'Megaphone Locs Wedge' sculpture and a motion graphics video featuring what we called internally our 'dancing digital baby cubes.' All three fed off of the other in terms of look and feel. Proud that they could amplify the voices of workers who turned out that day and everyday for economic and social justice. . https://www.anthemawards.com/winners/list/entry/...

11/11/2025

From a powerful debut in D.C. to today’s gathering in Detroit, the Next250 journey continues.

We’re deeply honored that our installation, “We | Be | Going,” created with artist collaborators and community voices, is traveling with this movement to create a space for reflection, imagination, and belonging wherever it lands.

Here’s to Detroit as it joins the work of envisioning America’s next 250 years through justice, community, and interdependence.

10/20/2025

Big Bowl of Ideas is a Finalist in the 5th Annual Anthem Awards for our project “Worker Power Is A Beautiful Thing” in the Human & Civil Rights / Awareness category.

This one means a lot. It honors the creativity and courage of workers who make change happen every day. Huge thanks to Stephanie Mercado for her powerful design work and to our partners at SEIU for trusting us to help tell this story.

Help us lift it even higher — vote here:
https://celebrate.anthemawards.com/PublicVoting #/2025/human-civil-rights/awareness-categories/

Worker power really is a beautiful thing.

Join me in celebrating the impact of this Anthem Awards finalist.

10/15/2025

Just about anyone who’s flown into LAX and headed for baggage claim has passed this stunning mosaic mural. It’s shown up in Jackie Brown, Mad Men, and countless other scenes that define Los Angeles.

But the story behind who made it? That’s been a mystery until now.

Big ups to the digital librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library who dug deep to uncover the truth. Their fascinating new article reveals how artist Alfonso Pardiñas and his company Byzantine Mosaics were the real creative force behind this masterpiece.

At Big Bowl of Ideas, we collaborate closely with artists, fabricators, and storytellers to bring large-scale murals and public art to life. We love seeing stories like this surface where credit finally lands where it’s due.

In this deep dive, you’ll find:
• how authorship of the mural was long misattributed
• interviews with Pardiñas’s daughter, Ilka Erren Pardiñas
• insights into his life, craft, and influence on mosaic art
• other surviving works across L.A. and the Bay Area

Read it here: “Alfonso Pardiñas and the Mystery of the LAX Mural” https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/alfonso-pardinas-and-mystery-lax-mural

Let’s keep celebrating and correctly honoring the artists who shape the public art that shapes us.

09/25/2025

09/16/2025

This flat bird's eye view is a layout for our fabricators of "WE | BE | GOING: An American Tapestry." We used large format printing on fabric to create 12 panels that were 50 feet total, 9 feet high. 'Side A' was all about the past and present of US history and its struggles. 'Side B' was all about the hopes and dreams for the Next 250 years of this place called America. Art and design by Caitlin Blunnie, Stephanie Mercado and the Big Bowl of Ideas Design Team. Produced for www.Next250.us

07/07/2025

We were so proud to be aprt of this!

06/25/2025

Octavia E. Butler didn’t write fantasy. She wrote reality — just ahead of its time. Her stories weren’t about escaping the world. They were about facing it, surviving it, and reshaping it when the old ways collapse.

In a moment where so many of our systems feel like they’re straining at the seams — politically, environmentally, socially — her work reads less like fiction and more like a roadmap. She gave us language for transformation, tools for imagining what could be built when the current structures fall away.

Her birthday was this past weekend. We dedicated our June newsletter to her legacy — and to the future-thinkers, organizers, and artists who are still drawing strength from her vision.

With this one line, Octavia Butler reminds us: her stories weren’t escapism. They were instructions. Through tales of resilience and transformation, she helped us see how to build beyond the systems we inherited. Today, on her birthday, we honor that call to action.

06/17/2025

Refugee Week invites us to imagine what safety could feel like.
This stunning piece by , created in partnership with , brings that vision to life—not just through symbols of care, but through quiet power.
It speaks to what so many carry across borders: memory, tenderness, and the right to belong.
Download this and other Refugee Week posters.�


https://amplifier.org/free-downloads/?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwK8by1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp47rKynjHWuQBPBY0Fkqll5olHzDuRVxJZ-UzCK0wsRTYvRCXHB04lEvlMsV_aem_HXiIuGhHzhcKlw8bCAogvw