Renowned mosaic artist Kirstin Green guided students over 90 days to help create 26 x 12 feet wall mosaic mural.
The Oberoi International School (OIS), Goregaon, saw a fun and creatively rewarding project end recently, with the unveiling of a wall-size, 26 x 12 feet mosaic mural which was a ‘community effort’ in which students worked and some parents also got involved in. The mural was created over a period of 90 days starting from September this year. Students were guided on the project by renowned American mosaic artist Kirstin Green, who was the resident artist for the project.
Kirstin is also working with seven other school-based community projects in the US and South Africa. The mural work at OIS started under her guidance, where she taught students on working with ceramic material, stained glass, glue, blueprints, construction and working on overall artistic collaboration upon completion. The materials were hammered, structured, and placed randomly or were cut and smoothed for a structured layout.
“Each step of designing a mural requires forethought, dedication and an overall vision of the larger picture, while focus has to be on each and every piece of the puzzle. It was truly a pleasure to interact with the ever-enthusiastic students, and create something so beautiful,” she said. The completed mural portrays children of different nationalities holding hands, flags of countries, a tree, the Taj Mahal, an elephant, a peacock, a staircase and a lotus which is the central focus of the piece.
“The entire exercise is a unique experience for our students,” said Dr Vladimir Kuskovski, Head of OIS. “They not only learned new skills of the medium, but also teamwork. Some students have used their free time after school hours, as well as weekends, to work on the mosaic. Many other students may have not worked directly on the project, but they have come down to see the work and often brought their parents along, so this is indeed a community project,” he added.
The mural was unveiled yesterday by acclaimed sculptor Arzan Khambatta, who said that the mural was “one of the finest pieces of art I have come across at a school level; it is amazing to see students delivering a fine art piece with this professionalism and finishing.”