If you get a chance to walk the halls of the Bellefonte Area High School, you might come across a large tile mosaic that is implanted on the wall, near the library. This mosaic has been years in the making and a project of tremendous effort from many students and adults. Art teacher, Erin Welsh, provided readers with some background on this project and the amount of love and work that went into it.
When did the mosaic begin?
I wrote the grant for the mosaic materials the summer of 2019, and the Bellefonte Education Foundation awarded me the funds for materials. We started planning right away. My art counterpart, Heather McClure and I wanted this to be a student-centered mosaic and asked for brainstorm sketches from anyone interested. We ended up merging several student designs into the Bellefonte landscape/townscape you see today. We used an opaque projector and students traced the design onto three 3'x5' backer boards and started to cut mirror for the sky and windows. Then, just as we were getting ready to glue the tiles, literally, the pandemic hit and Bellefonte schools, and the world shut down. Mosaic was on hold.
What was the thought process behind it or why did this project start?
I love mosaics and make them in my own artistic practice. I took my first workshop in Philadelphia with artist Isaiah Zagar in 2008 at the famous Philadelphia Magic gardens. I wanted to share my passion for mosaics and showcase the rich, long history and mosaic techniques with my students.
Who has been involved with this project?
Over the years, MANY students and staff have helped with this project. Matt Maris was an invaluable resource and gave suggestions, feedback and information on the history of Bellefonte and important buildings. My colleague, Heather McClure helped and allowed her students to take part. The students were the driving force behind the mosaic. Art students who had an interest have loyally helped create this mosaic from 2019-2024. This mosaic was built by them...and for them, and for the entire community of Bellefonte. Big thanks goes out to the Bellefonte Education Foundation for helping us fund this project, the administration for letting us hang it and the maintenance staff who did the hanging and the lighting.
How was the mosaic created?
The mosaic was created on three 3'x5' pieces of cement backerboard. The image was traced in sharpie and then students learned to cut and glue tiles and then grout. We used a mosaic tile supplier but many tiles were cut from donated pottery and mirror.
What does the mosaic picture all entail and how were those subjects picked?
Matt Maris was instrumental in helping us decide what buildings we might include. Significant for their history and importance for the town of Bellefonte. While we couldn't include them all, we included many. The red biplane reminds us that the grounds of the high school were once an Air-Mail airport. We included Talleyrand Park, the train station and Spring Creek, the Courthouse, Hastings Mansion, the Linn House (Bellefonte Art Museum), the Brockerhoff, the Gamble Mill, AME Church, Reynolds Mansion, the Elks Lodge, the Cadillac Building, Bush Arcade, the Match Factory, and the First National Bank building.
What have you (or your students) learned through the process of completing this project?
We all learned that a pandemic can't stop us, it just slowed us down a bit! We also learned that collaborative art can be impactful and important in a community. Many hands can make amazing things.
This is an incredible story of a project that began many years ago and with the help of so many, was able to come to fruition. Thank you to all that was involved in creating this beautiful mosaic piece of Bellefonte!
