During the first few weeks of this school year, Mrs. Brown’s  photography class and studio art class have been working on a huge glass and ceramic mosaic piece for the front of the high school building. When students and visitors come to enter our building they will see standing a beautiful, large mosaic art piece that when completed will represent the class of 2014.

Mrs. Brown has partnered up with the Garrison Art Center and Barbara Gallazo, an artist who owns Gallery 66 in Cold Spring, New York. Barbara is a glass and mixed media artist who  also promotes the work of pre-college artists to help them gain experience and confidence. When Barbara was approached to work with our school to create this remarkable mosaic she was prepared because she had worked with younger adolescents before. Shown in the photograph below are Mrs. Brown, Barbara Gallazo, and Barbara Smith-Gioia from the Garrison Art Center.

While working on the mosaic, we students did a ton of cutting the glass, sizing, and using the right colors and our imaginations to create a beautiful pattern. We were given circles and had to create our own image of weaknesses and accomplishments. Barbara spoke with us about how the transparency of glass symbolizes to her the strength and at the same time the fragility of life. the end result will represent the many struggles and joys this graduating class has had.

The project to me was more than molding glass pieces together to make a pattern. The meaning behind the glass would make almost anyone explore the depth and fragile inner beauty that exist in and around each of us.