Art in Public Places commissioned Elizabeth Busch to create Aurora as permanent public art for the dedication of the Conley-Guerrero Senior Activity Center, the first AIPP project site. Webster's Dictionary defines Aurora as "the rising light of morning; dawn or the day". The artist chose the new day to symbolize the East Austin Senior Activity Center and its "newness": a new building, new friends, new actives, and a new beginning. With all the newness comes the comfort of repetition like the repetition of a sunrise. Busch designed Aurora specifically for the center and its community. Buildings significant to the East Austin Senior community are hand quilted into the sunrise. The Colorado River symbolically connects the large sections of the quilt. Hills beyond the center are made up of fabric contributed by the seniors to become a vital color source for the whole quilt. Underlying the whole piece however, is a grid that indicates a structure in the overall hand quilting. The artist believes that this structure is present in all things, though it is seldom noticed or visible.
