Kristine Kollasch

Parallel Companion

Parallel Companion celebrates Arizona’s natural beauty, showcasing its mountains, clouds, cacti, rainstorms, and ever-present sunshine. In the distance, a train moves along the tracks, helping establish our place at McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. In the mural, look for official state features of Arizona: the cactus wren, the two-tailed swallowtail butterfly, the ringtail, a palo verde tree, and a saguaro blossom.   

Reclaimed railroad tracks and rail spikes help create the 9-foot-tall saguaro cactus and bench seat. Hundreds of community-made mosaic tiles, along with stone, commercial ceramic, and glass tiles, come together to form this lively scene.   

Artist Kristine Kollasch held community tile-making workshops at the railroad park, Mountain View Community Center, the Via Linda and Granite Reef Senior Centers, and Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.  

Kollasch designed this artwork for McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, located at Scottsdale Road and Indian Bend Road. This 30-acre park has been a Scottsdale staple for 50 years and has approximately 1 million visitors each year. The park features trains, a carousel, a playground, a model railroad building, and a railroad museum. This artwork is part of the larger construction project at the park entrance, which created a new indoor multipurpose area focused on train-themed play, a splash pad, and an upgraded playground.