Dream Building Mosaics - The Summit Country Day School (2005), Cincinnati, Ohio
						The Dreambuilding Mosaics were designed as artful donor recognition panels and were created in 2004-05 by Artist-in-Residence Jan Brown Checco. The project from planning through installation spanned seven months of residency. Over 200 Summit students in grades four through eight worked with the Jan for 10 weeks in a special workshop at The Summit. Nine special assistants assistants joined the students to make and perfect thousands of tiles. Both traditional and experimental approaches were used. This community-based project was based on an age-old process: as in a Renaissance workshop, each participant fulfilled tasks appropriate to their skill levels. This allowed for wide community participation and still maintained the high aesthetic standard the setting deserved. Workshop tasks included mass production of repeated format tiles, detail work and quality control by apprentices, and creation of complicated elements by the workshop's lead artists. Some elements of the mosaic panels were created by no less than 10 pairs of careful hands! The result is true community-created art where all share credit for the final beautiful results. The Dreambuilding Cathedral The design of the cathedral panel was inspired by the French Gothic style of The Summit's chapel, a beautiful and harmonious gift to the community by the founding Sister of Notre Dame de Namur. During slide lectures, the students learned about the basic geometric forms and natural details that define gothic architecture. The fa?ade of Notre Dame de Paris provided guidance for details like the portal, rose windows, gargoyles and niche statuary. Five different types of high-fire clay were used to create stonelike finishes. Colored slip (liquid clay) was used in most cases, maintaining the overall matte finish. Some roof surfaces were coated with glaze to give a contrasting slate appearance to the stone facade. The 2" squares that comprise the walls are full of infinite variety, products of student ingenuity and everyday tools like hairpins, screws, and buttons. Seventh grade students provided sketches that supported design of the windows by the artist-in-residence. One rose window and the portal were carved by fourth graders and refined by the workshop assistant Christi Williams. The Spirit of Generosity The design of the Spirit of Generosity was inspired by the creative works of twelfth-century Abbesse Hildegard von Bingen. Her music and paintings are full of spiritual symbolism, effectively communicating over centuries that which mere words may not. The Spirit of Generosity has a radiant headdress composed of concentric circles of perceptive eyes, feeling hearts, profiles of family faces, and hands which reach out in generous response to need. The ensemble expresses the state of awareness which provokes philanthropic response. The body of the Spirit is covered by flowing water which nurtures a garden full of sunflowers. Abundant clean water is the foundation of biological life, and sunflowers are heliotropic, turning towards the light. These flowers represent Summit students as they grow. A sparkle of light under the Spirit's chin is a reflection of divine light, balancing two other details in the palms: a watchful eye that perceives every need, and a pure heart which responds. A golden sash wraps down from the shoulders to the flowers, representing the transmission of an impulse to generosity learned by the children which generosity has helped. The body is covered with button-sized glazed tiles which include little faces, which represent "seeds" for the future generation of flowers.