Custom Workshops for New Visions School

EXPLORING MCBA'S CUSTOM WORKSHOPS NEW VISIONS SCHOOL, MINNEAPOLIS The entire student body from this K-8 charter school participated in a mosaic project created in the papermaking studios at MCBA. The older students, grades 3 through 6, helped design the stencils for pulp painting, using a nature theme. Once the stencils were finished, all of the students used a technique called “pulp painting” to create a sheet of paper for the mosaic. Students made their drawings by squirting colored pulp from a squeeze bottle into the stencil laid on top of a paper deckle. Once the paper dried, MCBA staff glued each handmade sheet to a cover weight paper to make it strong enough for hanging as a mosaic. They also inserted grommets into each corner, then connected each panel. The mosaic design, developed by MCBA artistic director Jeff Rathermel, allows the mosaic to be shaped in limitless ways. The students’ mosaic was prominently featured during a special opening reception for parents in the fall of 2007 at New Visions School.
		The green rectangle is a sheet of handmade paper overlaid with colored pulp applied by each student at New Visions School.
		Because every student in the school made his or her individual "tile" of the mosaic, there were too many tiles to create one single mosaic. Here is an installation view of three different mosaics in a hallway at New Visions School.
		Although the students shared the same stencils, each piece of the mosaic is unique because of the colors each student used for pulp painting.
		Different levels of ability also differentiate the panels; younger students' work is simpler, while older students embellished their stencil drawings and used finer lines.
		Even the "New Visions School 2006" panel is different on each of the three mosaics shown here. The mosaic serves as a artistic metaphor for the power of individuality and the beauty of collaboration.
*To discuss ideas for a custom workshop, or for scheduling and pricing information, please call Jill Weese, Youth Workshops Program Coordinator, at 612.215.2529*. RETURN TO CUSTOM YOUTH WORKSHOPS
	Minnesota Center for Book Arts is located in the Open Book Building 1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100 Minneapolis, MN 55415 PH: 612.215.2520 FAX: 612.215.2545 or contact us via EMAIL © 2008 Minnesota Center for Book Arts