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.

peacocking

Another dream project swung my way.  I have wanted to do a peacock feather for a long time and kept throwing it out to organizations in proposals and finally got a YES!  Plus, they asked for a companion piece, and I chose a whole peacock. On the 30th, I get to see them both hung up.  I can't wait!  there is so much iridescent in this mosaic. The eye feathers have a ring of irid and also the highlights on his head and neck.

At the beginning, I started to question my decision to go multicolored. Once it was done, I think it makes this bird look even more cheerful.  Both of these go in the MICU in Penn State Hershey Medical Center. 

The feather incorporates tiles made by faculty at the Med Center. They did a fantastic job as you would have guessed.  I regret not having many close-up photos, but I had a phone mishap and lost a bunch of stuff.  I had a great photo of hospital peeps here in my shop working on tiles but unfortunately, that was one that is missing. 

One of the tiles made here at my shop was a cute little ice cream cone.  I had to have that one piece of feather swoop down so the ice cream cone would be upright. It is hard to see but that little drip has an ice cream cone on it. 

year round spring

 

Well?  My part of this project is done. I cannot imagine any "job" being more fun than mine. There was a serious time crunch to get in before it got too cold to install. This side faces the road.  

This side faces the restaurant.  There will be landscaping and lighting, then it gets a cap on the wall but I am DONE.  There were so many scary things in this because it is outdoor.  

My previous post told the story of the project but I was so happy that a plaque also tells our story... forever!

  

Once the kids got their tiles done and I fired and sorted them, then I had to put the 20 ft x 5 ft mosaic together on a 3 ft x 5 ft table.  It was crazy to imagine.  I had to put tables together to accommodate the poofs, sometimes an auxiliary table on each side.

Then I started stacking sections that I had on tape for installation.  They collected cat hair for weeks. I had the same amount of stacks from the back of the wall and the poofs were stored in another room.  Nutty!  If asked to do it again, I would say yes in a heartbeat. Life is good.

I am already onto the next project... a peacock!  Woohoooo!

dandelions in Hershey

Next week, is the installation of the biggest mosaic of my career so far.  I can't even tell you how surreal this is.  The project started 2 1/2 years ago and had gotten cancelled twice.  Both times the project came back into being, it was a greater plan than it was prior to cancellation. I would be writing for days if I told you all the disappointments, close calls, and crappy events that turned out to be the exact path this project needed to take to become what it was always meant to be. 

There is no way to tell you the hundreds of stories about tile ideas that this mosaic contains. That is half of the reason these projects are such a joy to "work" on. This dandelion project is a literal dream, starting with the amazing people I got to work with.  I have wanted to do a project with multiple schools and this project called for exactly that.  This past winter, four schools, Milton Hershey, Hershey, Lower Dauphin, and Vista School all made tiles for this project. Students won't see all the tiles from students at other schools until October when there is a reveal event.

Each school had different amounts of time they were able to devote to tile making.  Some of the really amazing tiles were made in one class period! I ended up working with about 500 students that made about 1000 tiles!  They were all white, blue and green to make dandelion poofs.

The front has three poofs in the dandelion plant that is amongst other flowers.  Each poof is almost three feet across.  This photo is the mosaic laid out so I could measure.  It is still covered with tape and ungrouted.  The wall that it will be installed on is 20 feet long and five feet tall.

The back of the wall is the two poofs and a little ladybug with a whole lotta beautiful blue glass.  I am just trying to not burst till this gets installed. I can't believe how blessed I am.  In fact, I am already working on the next mosaic that will be installed about a mile away from this wall.  I'll tell you about it soon... and also show you photos of these dandelions installed. The Foundation for Enhancing Communities is the fiscal sponsor of this project. The location for the mural was provided by the Hershey Trust Company as trustee for Milton Hershey School. The mural is sponsored through the generosity of The Hershey Company, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, Capital Blue Cross, Capital Construction Management, Hershey Federal Credit Union, McQuaide Blasko, and the Rotary Club of Hershey.

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.

Harrisburg Artsfest 2022

Yesterday, I said I was crazy busy and made a short blog post... so why am I here today with another? I had to get a newsletter out to tell everyone about the reveal of this mosaic... and I usually link to my blog for a few more photos.  So here we go.

Harrisburg Artsfest had me set up in a mega tent with Capital Area Intermediate Unit to make tiles with festival attendees.  I had no idea what to expect but it was wonderful.  There were over a thousand people of every age making tiles.  The result of this great community effort will be gifted to the Harrisburg High School.  

By my count, we ended up with 1130 tiles and then the kids in the CAIU camp made almost 100 more tiles.  The goal was to have kids assemble the mosaic in camp but we did not get enough kids to get it finished.  That's why I am scrambling to get done by the reveal date.  There is an open house Aug 26th and at 1PM will be the reveal.  I'd love to see you there.

I will get a photo of it hanging as soon as possible.  The four panels will fit to make the mosaic 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide. Right now, the yellow and orange that is on the table is finished and I am working on the blue and green circles.  Busy = happy here.  I'm so grateful.

Cornwall Manor

This was a great project that I don't yet have close ups for but its already delivered.  I hope to attend an unveiling ceremony soon and will get some then.  Cornwall Manor asked me to do a community project with their senior residents.  They glued glass together and I brought it all home and fired it to make tiles. The resulting tiles were AMAZING and used in this mosaic that I put together.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was by far one of the most rewarding projects to date.  Residents apparently had as much fun as I did because they are talking about the next project. I am going to keep this short because I am up to my ears in the next three projects.  Stay tuned.