Last week, fourth- and fifth-grade art students from New London’s Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School finished their magnificent mosaics for the amphitheater—yay! Art teacher Jeffrey Wolfson developed the Art Everywhere curriculum to have students create art that can be installed “everywhere” in our community. Last year Jeff’s class created an outdoor, glass-tile mural for their school’s courtyard with the help of two well-known mosaic artists, Gwen Basilica and Deb Aldo. The mosaics for our project, done with porcelain tiles, was a little different from that installation so there was a new skill set to teach and many new students learning to mosaic.
Beginning in February, the students developed their designs, did practice paper mosaics, and even did a small brick-sized mosaic to practice technique. Gwen and I went in to assist when we could, but it was Mary (see Something about Mary blog) who took on the task of working with the children four days a week. Mary worked with Jeff to teach and then guide the students through mosaic-making, keeping them focused on things like space between tiles, staying within the border of the paver size, finding the right piece of the “puzzle” to insert to execute the design. When it was time to work on each mosaic for the amphitheater, Mary helped them move from concept to design with all of its challenges. For example, one child didn’t have room for an octopus with eight legs, so they kept removing legs until it became a pentapus!
Mary clearly missed her calling as a teacher but made up for it by being a diligent mosaic mentor. She also took on the sole responsibility for thin-setting and then grouting all 72 student-design mosaics and 66 mosaics of the color wheel element of the amphitheater (yikes!) Not wanting to expose the students to the caustic chemicals in the thin set, Mary developed a different method, having them use diluted school glue to adhere the tiles to paper. Once the mosaics were completed, Mary put mosaic tape on the face of the files, soaked off the paper backing, flipped the mosaics over and applied the adhesive, along with mosaic mesh. Once that was dry, she flipped them over and grouted them. Mucho Trabajo!
This project was a ton of work for everyone involved, but having the children participate in the garden’s creation is key to making it a true community garden. Sometimes we take for granted the things we have in our community. Being part of the creative process, however, gives each citizen ownership or at least a connection to the space. Giving elementary school students the opportunity to contribute in such a visible way should be empowering. Having teachers that are willing to take on, or seek out these opportunities as Mr. Wolfson has, is remarkable and should be applauded. This is one great way of teaching citizenship and stewardship.
The kids will be coming out to Avery Point for a field trip to see how their artwork fits into the garden. I’m smiling as I write this because it is exactly what I envisioned when I applied for the grant. I wanted our community’s children to create something special for the children who come after them and to learn through doing. I hope that the NHAMS students will feel pride in what they have created and how they played a role in the creation of the garden. I also hope they learned about the garden itself and why it’s important to spend time in nature. Finally, I hope that they and their families will visit the garden often. Maybe they’ll even come back with their children someday and share with them the lessons they learned.
