CHMS 2015 Mosaic Mural

Art teacher, Ms. Fitzgerald, through the help of the District 181 Foundation Grant, invited renowned mosaic artist, Mirtes Zwierzynski,to help create the first mosaic mural at

Clarendon Hills Middle School.

Quick Stats• -4: number of weeks students spent cutting and

assembling mosaic tiles

• -70: number of square feet the four columns of the mural cover

• -250+: number of students and staff that helped create the mural

• 10,000+: number of tile pieces that were cut and assembled to create this work of art!

Professional Mosaic Artist, Mirtes Zwierzynski, begins collecting drawing ideas from students for mural

Here is an original student drawing. See if you can find it in the final mosaic mural!

Then we practiced arranging possible ideas from different art classes.

With student images selected, Mirtes combined the ideas to fit to scale inside each column of the mural.

Now that the designs were drawn to scale, it was time to smash the tiles!

With the drawings taped down to

tables, students used nippers to shape different colored tiles so

that they fit inside each line.

This requires a lot of patience and visual problem- solving to fit so

many tiny pieces together!

When a section is complete, we place clear, sticky contact paper on top to hold pieces together.

After all the pieces are

taped down, each section is measured in line to ensure it

will fit precisely along the

columns in the school cafeteria.

After all the pieces are

taped down, each section is measured in line to ensure it

will fit precisely along the

columns in the school cafeteria.

Installation Day! On a weekend, all mural sections are transported from art room to cafeteria to be installed in

cafeteria.

A master tilesetter installs each section of the mural.

Each section is carefully fixed to the wall with a special glue. It will dry with the clear contact paper in tact for one week.

Mosaic Artist and Tilesetter discuss the mural.

Lunchtime during the week the glue is drying.

No piece is left unchecked!

Before grouting, all the plastic is peeled away from the wall to reveal the bare tile now stuck to the

wall.

After the tiles dried for a whole week, it was time to GROUT!

Before Grout After Grout

The polished product!

Ms. Fitzgerald is SO happy!