Making Mosaics and Building Community – The Greening Green Street Mosaic Project

The Greening Green Street Mosaic Project started last year as a collaboration between the Green Street Arts Center AfterSchool Program, teaching artist and nationally known mosaicist Debora Aldo, and members of the Middletown community. Watch the project video from last semester. 

The goal is to create a common space to celebrate the integration of art, math, and science – a space that serves as a beautiful entryway to Green Street, a living laboratory for education programs, and an artful representation of our community here in the North End of Middletown.

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The Greening Green Street Mosaic Project continues this spring.

Debora and our teaching staff are developing garden-based activities for a series of elementary and middle school half days to explore the plant cycle, plant identification, weather cycle, pattern making, and use spatial skills to make the mosaics.

The AfterSchool students will have the opportunity to make their own pebble mosaics that will become a part of the permanent installation in front of the building. Every day they come to Green Street, the students will be able to see and show off their work.

To celebrate the project, we will have an unveiling as part of our Green Street Open House (part of CT Open House Day) on Saturday, June 14th, 2014. Save the date!

We are asking our community to come together and help with the project. There are lots of ways you can get involved. You can:

  1. Sponsor an AfterSchool student’s mosaic 
  2. Make your own mosaic
  3. Volunteer to help with installation — come get down and dirty to install the heavy mosaics in our garden in late spring. Call or email Green Street at 860-685-7871 or gsac@wesleyan.edu if you are interested in helping us with installation in late spring/early summer.

This project is made possible by a CT Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Arts Catalyze Placemaking Grant.

Sponsor an AfterSchool Student’s Mosaic for the Greening Green Street Mosaic Project

Our AfterSchool students are the heartbeat of Green Street. We want to involve them in our community arts activities and help them discover their passions. This spring, we are doing that through the Greening Green Street Mosaic Project. The AfterSchool students will have the opportunity to make their own pebble mosaics with nationally known mosaicist Debora Aldo that will become a part of the permanent installation in front of the building. Every day they come to Green Street, the students will be able to see and show off their work.

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Your sponsorship of an AfterSchool student’s mosaic will help us pay for the materials to complete the mosaic project. Our garden is a large space and it takes lots of pebbles and cement to create the beautiful mosaics.

You can sponsor an AfterSchool student’s mosaic at several levels.

  • Level 1 – only $10! Level 1 sponsors will receive recognition on our website.
  • Level 2 – $25. Level 2 sponsors will receive a student-made thank you card for their support.
  • Level 3 – $50 and up. Level 3 sponsors will receive recognition on our donor tree so all Green Street visitors can see how they support community youth programs in art, math, and science.

All sponsors will receive an invitation to the mosaic unveiling at our Green Street Open House on Saturday, June 14, 2014 and recognition on our website.

To sponsor an AfterSchool student’s mosaic, you can either call Claudia with your credit card information at 860-685-7797. We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Or you can send a check to the Green Street Arts Center at 51 Green Street, Middletown CT 06457. Please make checks payable to GSAC/Wesleyan and note “Mosaic Sponsor Level 1, 2, or 3” in the notes section.

Make Your Own Mosaic Community Workshops – The Greening Green Street Mosaic Project

The Green Street Arts Center of Wesleyan University would like to welcome you to participate in our Greening Green Street Mosaic Project by taking a mosaic class taught by nationally known pebble mosaicist Debora Aldo.

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We will be hosting several afternoon mosaic workshops this spring. These are the dates, stay tuned for more details.

Wednesday, February 19 from 5:00-8:00pm (Make+Take)

Saturday, February 22 from 1:00-5:00pm (Make+Leave)

Saturday, March 29 from 1:00-4:00pm (Make+Take)

Make+Leave Workshop — Come to the Green Street Art Center and learn how to make a pebble mosaic in this 4-hour workshop. You will make a black and white pebble mosaic that will become part of a permanent installation in the front Green Street garden – a space for youth education programs and community gathering. The mosaic stays but you take the knowledge of the process with you so that you can make another at your own pace in your own space! The cost of the class is normally $140 with Deb, but you pay only $65 to be a part of this community project.

Make+Take Workshop — You can come and make a small craft style mosaic during a 3-hour mini-workshop using stone, glass and ceramic and mortar. All materials are provided and you will bring the project home. This is a basic mosaic class, no experience needed. There is an explanation of cutting and fitting of materials. Simple designs, basic instruction and small substrates are provided. The cost of this class is $65.

If the classes sound great but you would rather just donate to the project and leave the mosaic making to the Green Street AfterSchool students, you can Sponsor an AfterSchool Student’s Mosaic.

Workshop fees help us purchase materials for the AfterSchool portion of the Greening Green Street Mosaic Project.

Call or email Green Street today at 860-685-7871 or gsac@wesleyan.edu to sign up for a mosaic workshop.