dreams coming true

Once again, I thank the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for what they do to make projects like this possible.  This was a tremendous undertaking for these kids.  I am just unbelievably proud of them.  Over half of the fifty foot mosaic was covered by seventh and eighth graders!  Some of the classes only had a handful of kids in them.  One of the cutest things is how wonky the letters are in Walt's name.  That was a student's idea.  A different student suggested that we use a mouse for the dot in his i.  

 One day when I asked them to clean up, they grumbled that they wanted to continue mosaicking a little longer.  I said they could if they promised to clean up fast.  They did!

 The goal was to make something colorful for above the book shelves in their school library.  This is a photoshop mock up of what it should look like once it is installed.  For the record, I FIRMLY believe this Disney quote.  Yeah, dreams coming true.

this is why

Today I started a new residency in Muncy.  This one is the first time that I have done the same school two years in a row. Because of that, there are a lot of these kids that I have worked with before.  Right at the top of my day, one of the kids I met last year told me that he remembered videos I had showed him and he said he already started working in a job that has him doing what he loves.  Yeah, it doesn't get any better than this.

Our mosaic is a 50 ft. Disney quote, "All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."  How can it get any better?

mhs represent!

How do I even pick photos to post here?  I would like to post about thirty.  There's just NO WAY for you to see everything in this mosaic.  I mean, I was present for the entire fabrication and I was still discovering new details the last day.  Ahead of time, it was decided that we would work with mostly school colors and let each kid make their own glass tile. We took these tiles, about 100, and mixed them up with regular stained glass to complete the design.

In the bottom photo is the youngest class (seventh graders) that worked on the mosaic.  Every class produced stellar tiles... not even kidding!  There was a ballerina and a flamenco dancer; a bike and a snowman; superman and batman logos.  There were soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, footballs and pom poms.  There was a donut and a circuit board.  Phillies, Broncos and a top hat... a turtle, a horse, birds, and SO many flowers.

Again, I will thank the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for their generous donation covering a huge chunk of the money that made this Muncy program possible.  I am so unbelievably grateful to have been part of this.  So tired... so happy.  Looking forward to being in my shop tomorrow, aaahhhhhhh.