Kickstarter

School Pride Mosaic Project

I feel fortunate to have been the art department head at The Smith School for the last five years.  The Smith School is a small private school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that serves the needs of students who historically have not succeeded in a more traditional school environment. We offer small classes and individualized attention and have an extremely diverse population. Our teachers, staff and parents work together to create a safe, family-like environment for our students and always strive to live up to The Smith School’s maxim, “Small school. Big heart.”

Art should be a crucial part of the school day, and it truly is at The Smith School.  Art is offered five days a week and is taught to mixed grade level classes. This unique integrated schedule leads to many dynamic classes and the opportunity for each student to be both mentored and a mentor to younger classmates.  Each student appreciates art and art class differently. For some it is a place to master technique and build a portfolio. For others, it is a more therapeutic experience.  Above all, we at Smith have tried to present classroom experiences where all students feel safe and encouraged to expresses themselves.

For several years we have wanted to create a large mosaic piece to be installed in our student lounge. The goal is to showcase our student’s considerable talents and encourage school pride. Unfortunately, because Smith has such a high teacher to student ratio, we have never been able to dedicate the necessary funds to make this dream a reality.  The piece would be designed and executed by the art students and would incorporate our school name and mission.  The plan would be to install it on all four sides of an 11 ¼”W x 13” D x 9’ H column located in the school entry lounge. Since our school rents space, it is important that our piece is repositionable. For this reason, I am proposing that the students create their own mosaic “mural” in two foot sections on ½ “ board. The boards would then be mounted on the column after the mosaics have been completed.

The plan would require us to purchase: various tesserae, glue, grout, various tile manipulating tools, sponges, spreaders, mosaic tile primer, finishing spray, wood and mounting supplies. The estimated expense for all of the supplies needed is approximately $900.

We are highly motivated to make this project happen this school year because we have an extremely artistically gifted senior class who we want to be included in the project. Any donation that we receive will be whole heartedly appreciated.