More Mosaic at Chenowith Elementary

Chenowith Elementary School in The Dalles, Oregon has the goal of decorating the front of their school with mosaics.  I started this project with the school during the 2013-2014 school year.  The entire student body was involved in creating 6 mosaics.  They decided to continue making more mosaics the following school year.  I designed 12 more mosaics, but only 6 were finished by the end of the year.  Next year, the plan is to continue making them until eventually every other section below the front windows will have mosaic.

I spent a lot of time researching the history of the Columbia Gorge and The Dalles.  I decided to design the mosaics based on the local wildflowers, the fish in the Columbia Gorge, petroglyphs found in the area and the Oregon Trail. Here are the designs that will be made into the mosaics.

(I realized I did not take a picture of one of the wildflowers that I designed.  Also, there is a special mosaic that was designed for a teacher that suddenly passed away during the school year.  I don't have a picture of that design either, but you will see the mosaics as you scroll down.)

Here are a couple pictures that show part of the process I go through when the mosaics are made.

Once the designs were done, I came into the school to transfer the designs to the board on which the mosaics would be made.  Individual classes worked on the mosaics in their spare time.  A family art night was scheduled for the school where parents came in to learn more about art that was being done at the school.  Two of the mosaics were available for the families to work on together.

These are the mosaics that were finished this year.  Some of these photos show the pieces grouted and some still need the grout.