Conrad Weiser High School
Finding Our Way
CREATING ART DURING A PANDEMIC
October 2020 - Robesonia, PA
Finding Our Way is a mosaic installed at Conrad Weiser High School in Robesonia, Pennsylvania USA. I worked as an artist in residence from October 2019 — October 2020. The project was funded by a grant from Southeastern PaARTners at Millersville University and matching funds from the high school’s Parent/teacher organization. While we had a strong start in 2019, the challenges brought by 2020 nearly ended this project. The efforts of the creative team at Conrad Weiser (Ann Schmidt, Library Media Specialist with Jessica Alexander & Ashley Moore, both Art Teachers) were truly the catalyst to complete this project. I was impressed and humbled to see their tenacity. Not only were they facing potentially the most difficult year of their professional life as educators in the fall of 2020, they committed themselves to provide this positive, in-person collaborative project for their students who were all virtually learning from their homes. COVID-19 has taken away so many things for all students. They didn’t want the mosaic and the work that the students put forth the previous year to be just one more casualty of COVID-19.
The creative team worked with the administration of Conrad Weiser to choose this location for the installation:
This entrance is the most widely used entrance into the school by the public as they enter for events in the gymnasium and auditorium. Workshops in the fall of 2019 were with the 2D Design students. They learned the basics of creating mosaics and then discussed an overall theme for the project. The students decided to explore the theme of the dreams that high school students have through the motif of a labyrinth. Labyrinths are traditionally used as a walking meditation. One enters with a path ahead and tall walls surrounding them obscuring the vision of the overall picture to find where the path or journey will end. The students likened the path in a labyrinth to the journey of a student through high school. All students walk through the same hallways and paths, through doorways and at times exploring undiscovered parts of the school and themselves. This process helps the students find their way toward discovering their identity and the shape that their dreams may take in their lives. When one graduates from the “labyrinth,” they are changed.
The 2D design students conducted a school-wide survey they developed to include others in the design process. The results of over 100 surveys of students and staff helped to contribute to color choices and specific images the students included in their design.
The installation was originally scheduled to be completed in May 2020 but was cancelled because of school closures due to COVID-19. The staff reconvened in September and figured out a way to begin the installation in October 2020. They had collected donations of tools and tiles from their staff and families from their community. They also received a sizable donation of tile from Creative Flooring & Design in Reading PA. The art teachers had also facilitated the creation of custom made tiles by staff and students which would be worked into the mosaic. We began by sketching the design on the wall surface.
All of the students at Conrad Weiser were currently learning remotely. They arranged for them to be able to sign up for work shifts throughout the days of installation. The tiling and grouting took two weeks and the results were stunning!
The Reading Eagle visited the project and covered the story. Over 40 proud students, staff, and friends spent time on the wall bringing this project to completion. I am filled with gratitude that I was able to work with the amazing creative team at Conrad Weiser to to provide this opportunity for their students to meet up with their friends on the wall, masked and socially distanced, to create this stunning new entrance to their high school. Finding Our Way is their lasting legacy. As one students said, “It’s something I can bring my kids to see!”. Check out the participants photo gallery and time lapse video below.
