AG students, with help from artist, do mosaic of school’s namesake
The final product of hours of toil by 10 Albert Gallatin Area High School students will be on display tonight at a public art showing. The art students tediously assembled a life-size mosaic of Albert Gallatin, the school district and high school namesake, using around 20,000 pieces of different colored ceramic tile and clay.
From the tip of his pointed hat down to his knee-length breeches, Albert Gallatin was blooming into full color as the project neared completion Thursday afternoon, and students stayed after school had ended to complete it in time for a public showing.
The four-foot by eight-foot mosaic will be on display alongside individual student works during the event to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the main entrance of the high school. Refreshments will be served.
Accompanying the showing will be a slideshow presentation of students working with world-renowned mosaic artist Dawnmarie Zimmerman to create the mosaic. Photography students, who have been snapping pictures of the artwork since its beginning stages, will create the presentation.
Working closely with Zimmerman throughout the project allowed students to receive hands-on training from a professional artist experienced in the mosaic technique.
Students used nippers to cut small squares of colored ceramic tile into little shapes and paintbrushes to dab glue onto a wooden board and then individually pressed each piece onto a large drawing of Albert Gallatin.
Senior Christopher Bowlen described it as, “It’s just like a puzzle. Only, you’re making the pieces for the puzzle.”
Senior Mitchell Sutton said the project was the largest piece of art he has helped to create. He said the tedious project required hours of patience.
“It’s been a long project, but it’s great to see the results afterwards,” said Sutton.
Zimmerman said she introduced new art materials, like ceramic tile and glass, to students who never worked with them before, and she said the students really caught on.
“To see them take it, embrace it and work with it has been the reward for me,” said Zimmerman.
As executive director of the Society of American Mosaic Artists and a rostered artist with the Pennsylvania Council of Arts and Southern Allegheny Museum of Art’s Artist in Residence Program, Zimmerman has taken her teaching into classrooms throughout western Pennsylvania.
Her mosaic work has been exhibited in Johnstown, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Irving, Texas, and Chicago, Ill., and can be viewed online at www.ladybughill.com.
Zimmerman said art offers certain students an outlet for creative expression.
“Not every student is an athlete,” said Zimmerman. “There needs to be a way to release and focus energy in a creative way. This is another form of self expression.”
Zimmerman said people taking the time to work on such a tedious art project is rare in the fast-paced world in which we live.
“What makes mosaic art unpopular is why I really like it,” said Zimmerman, noting it requires persistence and patience.
Teaching her craft to students may benefit some as they go to further their education beyond high school.
Senior Troy Volansky said he expects to attend West Virginia University to major in art education, while senior Gregory “GJ” Miller plans to study architecture or another art- or design-related field at a major university, according to high school art teacher, Sharon Sementa-Bunyan.
Sementa-Bunyan praised all the students involved in the project for the extra effort to ensure the project is a success.
“These kids are wonderful,” said Sementa-Bunyan.
“They don’t hesitate to do anything when you ask them.”
High school Principal Joetta Britvich acted as the students’ client and picked Albert Gallatin as the subject of a mosaic. The students researched the Colonial and found pictures of him on which to base their drawing.
“We’re very excited about it,” said Britvich about the project and public art opening.
Albert Gallatin immigrated to the United States in 1780 and, in 1784, settled in western Pennsylvania, particularly Springhill Township, where his home – Friendship Hill – is today a national historic site.
He was a member of the constitutional convention, a Pennsylvania state legislator and, as Secretary of the Treasury, he arranged for the funding to buy the Louisiana Purchase and for Lewis and Clark’s exploration of it.
Zimmerman’s visit was funded through an artist-in-residency program through the Pennsylvania Arts Council and the Intermediate Unit 1, a public educational service agency providing leadership and services to the schools of Fayette, Greene and Washington counties.
Freshmen Albert Gallatin Area High School students worked alongside their senior peers to complete the project.
Sementa-Bunyan said while the seniors drew Albert Gallatin and filled the drawing in with colored tiles, Adamos Povilianskas, David Simon, Amy Lewis, Sarah Stephens, Deanna DeFrank and Michelene Yates cut the tile and sorted the pieces by color.
Junior Sarah Hancheck helped with each area of work, Sementa-Bunyan said.
Andrew Keener and Kenneth Musko, the other two teachers in the high school fine arts department, also contributed to the project.
School officials said the piece will become a permanent fixture in the front school hallway.
All Saints School in Masontown and Conn Area Catholic School in Connellsville plan to host an artist-in-residence next month.