Wall Mosaic Won’t be Complete

By Lyta Ringo –

In the past years, hundreds of students have worked on it. Put all their time and effort into the mosaic, and in the end, the wall will not be completed by its scheduled time.

Terry Hay, an art teacher at Penn Manor and the head of the Starry Night Mosaic said, “I figure we lost about twenty days of glass application (just this year).”

Whitney Reno, a senior at Penn Manor also noted that a lot of time was lost this school year due to an increase in weather problems.

“There was a week straight of rain and I couldn’t go out and work on the wall,” said Reno, “at that time that was the only step I had to work on.”

The glass will not all be on the wall by the end of this school year, leaving lots of summer work up to Mrs.Hay. The wall has been worked on by many students in the district throughout the year.

“Students that were finished with their class work, worked on finishing the glass pieces,” said Hay, “Every single one of my students this year has done glass work.”

The glass work is considered the easiest part of the process, however, the most time consuming. Hay commented that having every student help was a good thing because the students will be able to look back and know that they were a part of the mosaic.

One student in the school has put a lot on work into the wall. Reno has been helping with the wall since the day the project began. This year she took an independent study, during second block, to focus entirely on the mosaic.

Reno stated that she likes the design aspect of the project. She will be attending college for a degree in design next year.

“Putting the design together, onto the paper model,” said Reno, “I only did it for a short time, but it was my favorite part.”

The time consuming steps to the wall can cause some mixed emotions about the project.

“I enjoyed putting it (the mosaic) on the wall, but it got frustrating,” said Reno.

Even though the wall is not complete, the product so far has those involved very optimistic.

“I’m happy (with how the mosaic is turning out) the only thing is there is a grid line, and you can see the individual sections,” said Reno, “I’d like for them to not be there, but in a way it’s kind of cool because each student will be able to know which part they helped work on.”

The Starry Night Mosaic has been a learning experience for all.

Mrs.Hay said, “The one thing this (mosaic) has taught me is that going slow does have it’s advantages.”