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Friday, February 5, 2010

Mosaics, Mosaics and More Mosaics

For our first unit upon our return to school we have been studying mosaics.  Over the past five weeks we have looked at mosaic work by artist San Francisco Laurel True.  Her work is featured in a video on  iTunes U on SPARK: Bay City Arts from KQED.

We went on to look at mosaic work by the great architect, Antonio Gaudi.  He lived and worked in Barcelona.  One of the most famous landmarks of Barcelona is Park Guell.  There are many extraordinary mosaics in the park including the Dragon Fountain.

We took a virtual tour of his life's passion and most famous landmark of Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia.  We zoomed in and out with the help of a CD that I got when I went to Barcelona as Fund for Teachers Fellow in 2002.

Students have made circular mosaics using paper on paper plates.





Finally, we are finishing up work on mosaics of our initials.  The students chose one of their initials, the first letter of either their first or last name and created their mosaic with small paper "tesserae".  You'll be able to see their work soon on the front bulletin board.

Take a trip to the Art Car Museum here in Houston for a look at some very unusual mosaics by art car artist and school teacher, Alan Bartell.  His car, Versatile, is on view there.
The image above is a detail of Versatile at the Art Car Museum.  Believe me it is much more spectacular in person.

The Art Car Museum is a wonderful place.  You can stop by on a week end and take in several art cars and other art by Houston artists.

Closer to home, you can see mosaic work by Jeff McKissack at the Orange Show.  The Orange Show is closed for the winter, but will reopen in March.  They were one of the sponsors of the Eastwood Academy mosaic mural titled "No Olvides Tus Raices" at 6635 Harrisburg.

On the internet you may want to take a look at some local mosaics at MOCAH, the Museum of Cultural Arts, Houston and follow it up with a driving tour to see some of their projects.

Keep your eyes out and you'll see that mosaics are all around us!

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