Highspire Rest Stop on the PATurnpike
 

I just finished up a project with Steelton Highspire High School. Wow, this was so different than what we normally do. One of the stipulations of the project was that it had to be subject matter about the surrounding area. When you have up to twenty pairs of hands going at one time, it is a little difficult to manage super specific pictures.  These students pulled it off. 

We spent the first two days making tiles.  All tiles were white and became the clouds. Always, love this part.  

It's funny, I have been thinking about doing the capitol dome for quite a while. I never imagined it in a residency but here we are. In every other residency I have ever done, I take in blank boards and the design is usually drawn by students or teachers.  This was so specific and with limited time, so I drew it before I got there. You cannot imagine how crazy it is to keep three shades of grey straight when you have 4 people at a time working on it... then the people change every 40 minutes. The number one rule is always "Don't lay tools on the glass."  There's a little oops shown above, ha ha. 

  

PA turnpike has installed this in their Highspire Plaza. A really cool thing about this project is that tomorrow Steelton Highspire students who worked on this mosaic will be going on a field trip to see their work now that its installed. I hope I can sleep tonight; I just can't wait! Then on top of that, PA Turnpike is throwing in pizza! 

I have sincere gratitude for Pennsylvania Council on the arts, PA Turnpike, and Capital Area Intermediate Unit for making this project happen.  I am so blessed.

time to make the donuts

If you know ahead of time you will be making rainbow sprinkles, you know it's going to be fun.  In this project, I worked with three teachers, and I had worked with each of them separately before in different projects.  I felt like it was kismet that these three ended up in Mifflin County High School and I was blessed to work with them.
 

I wish I could say that donuts were MY idea but they weren't.  Nobody remembers who came up with the idea but I love it.  Their cafeteria is the perfect place for this mosaic.

I always say that I am amazed at what people come up with for tiles.  One surprise here was a comb from a guy that cuts hair! Never had one of those that I can remember.    

It's so nice to see humans shoulder to shoulder again. When working on a mosaic, it is such slow momentum that it is difficult to see that we have even made any progress in a whole class.  But below, I have a progression of day to day. Keep in mind that this is about 15-20 people at a time almost all day. The first four days were spent making tiles. Then it took two days to grout because we used two colors.  This project was made possible by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, through the Perry County Council of the Arts. I'm beyond grateful.

I am already working on the next mosaic and hope to show you some progress photos soon.  The feature tiles will be dandelion poofs and they were made in four different schools in my area.  Life is but a dream.

I know.  It's true.  I have been remiss in blogging.  For a while there was nothing to blog about then a tidal wave happened.  I'm not complaining.  The above project was finished in February at Allen Middle School.  One crazy thing is that this project involved a record number of 26 students at one time in one of the classes.  

This project was facilitated and supported by Capital Area Intermediate Unit.  I am so grateful and love working with them. In case you worry about me getting a swelled head about anything ever, I included a photo of the entire crowd for the reveal of the mosaic.  Other than the faculty and CAIU representatives, this cool family was the only ones to show up for the event.  Sigh... 

Then right after that, I started the above koi mosaic with Susquenita Middle School.  I've been dying to do a koi mosaic and was so happy the project landed with these cutie pies.  After the record-breaking large class of last project, every class in this project was about the same size!

I wish you could walk past it but I am going to add a video so you can better sense how cool the mirror is in this. BTW, that mirror was donated from Rainbow Vision in Harrisburg to help support our efforts.  This project was facilitated and supported by Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Perry County Council of the Arts.  It's always been a pleasure working with them.

cloud watching

September was so much fun for me.  I finished another month long residency in Midd West again, for the sixth time.  Each kid got to make at least one tile and we had somewhere around 150 kids. This was my five advanced kids and I have had the honor of working with each of them before.  As you'd guess, they produced amazing tiles.

Kids were allowed to work in white or grey, some tiles with a combination of white and grey.  Some of these are so impressive especially considering the majority of the participants never worked with glass before.  We assembled all the tiles to make clouds.  The sky was made with a glorious mottled blue Youghiogheny, probably my favorite glass.  They already have it hung in the grade school that it was gifted to.  I want to get in there to take a good photo of it eventually.  Till then, they sent these.  

If you're on Insta, I put a video on there that shows the iridescent in the sun a little better.  Life is so good.  Thanks Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for funding projects like this.      

YESSSSSS, summmer!

The PPI/Lower Dauphin project is now finished.  Thanks so much to Pennsylvvania Council on the Arts for the help in funding these projects.  The last mosaic was an abstract and the catch was that I had to involve all FIVE of the elementary schools in our district.  Crazy!  I had some kids cut, some kids assemble, and used mosaic tape to prepare the bits for travel to the next school.  The top photo is what the elementary peeps came up with, the bottom photo is what we assembled the parts into.  The finish was predominately done by  a Lower Dauphin teacher and myself.  This is as cheerful as the rest of the five mosaics in the project.  I feel like a boss because there was some unbelievable hurdles in this project.  Thankfully, the Lower Dauphin teachers were extremely flexible and supportive but wow, those kids really stepped up to bat.  I started out thinking PPI/Lower Dauphin would be a dream project and it ended up even cooler than I had imagined.  As usual, all the stymies just prepared me for the next big thing so yeah, I'm ready.  Bring it, Universe!

The end of May, I took on an intern.  Jess has been just what I needed to kick my ass into gear.  Sure, we are doing a lot of menial things like cleaning and other stuff that needs done on a regular basis, but we are also working on a collaborative mosaic, a video of a separate mosaic, and trying to land the next big thing.  This summmer will be hot for us... in a good way.

full steam ahead

Last post I said I'd be full steam ahead in the new year and that started on January 2.  I am working on the biggest, most collaborative project that I've ever been a part of.  Just like most artists I know, I want to do every inch of my work MY WAY.  That's not what happens in a collaboration. 

I guess there were about 75 kids and each got their own patch of color to work on and do whatever they wanted.

Here are two of the 6 mosaics that I am obligated to produce for this project.  These took two weeks and there are six more weeks spread out through May.  I am working with all seven Lower Dauphin schools, and five of them are grade schools!  The resulting mosaics will find their home in the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Harrisburg.  All six mosaics will be on the adolescent floor of this hospital.  We are hoping to help provide a more nurturing environment for patients and the people caring for them.  Does something this big have it's twists and turns?  Oh, you bet.  But even though I don't enjoy certain aspects of a collaboration, I have to admit that those things make me more bad ass and capable of the next cool thing.  Thanks Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for what you've done to make this happen.

AND, I just realized that I didn't mention the video someone made for me.  Olivia Pfeffer did a fantastic job and I highly recommend her.  You can see the video here on YouTube.