Each student teamed up with at least one adult family member to create a small mosaic sea creature to be included in the ocean mosaic mural.
The design paper prints were used as a guide for piecing the mosaics when I (and four volunteer helpers) facilitated the mosaic making event for the 60+ families that participated in piecing the mosaics. We had at least 140 people there in one large auditorium because each student had to be there with at least one adult family member. We had many families show up with 3 or 4 family members collaborating on piecing their small animal design that would eventually fit into the overall design for the mural.
The designs I prepared and printed out for the project were used to guide the piecing of the individual mosaic sea creatures by student/family teams. The resulting mosaics were laid out on my workshop floor to figure out how the whole design would work and be able to hold so many individual mosaics (we ended up with 75 animal mosaics). I picked a marine animals theme for the mural to resonate with the existing painted public art at the school. I chose creatures that are native to this area, in the San Francisco Bay and the Napa River, both swimmers and flying animals. The mermaid seahorses, and flying fish were necessary to add whimsy, of course.
For the 2014 Vallejo Open Studios I hosted an actual open studio and invited the public to help piece the words for the mosaic mural border. We produced 72 square feet of border mosaic for the Grace Patterson elementary school mosaic mural. Whew! What a day!
During the installation of the mosaic mural many students helped out and kept our spirits up.
Belinda was the lead teacher in spearheading the project, sourcing funding, galvanizing the student body and their families to participate in this community built mosaic art project.
Student and teachers celebrating the completion of the mosaic mural.
Astoundingly high quality mosaic mural by elementary school students! This mosaic mural was designed, facilitated, and installed by me ( Sophia Othman Mosaics) with some volunteer help from community members. It was pieced by grade schoolers and their families, teachers, and the Principal too!! here is a link to the TV spot about it and the newspaper article too:
The Channel 5 News Story in the Cool School segment
The front page local newspaper story, in the Vallejo Times Herald, about the school mosaic mural.
Student joyfully celebrating their handiwork in making this mosaic mural.
