6th Street Playground
Think Big
TEEN MOSAIC CAMP
The 6th Street Playground Mosaic is over 240 square feet and was accomplished through a collaboration between Lebanon Valley Council on the Arts and the Playground Association. I was the Teaching Artist for a 2-week summer Mosaic Camp with 11 teen participants. We spent the first week creating personal mosaics and discussing potential themes for the mosaic installation. As teens, they wanted to use the mosaic installation to elevate the importance of play for the children who regularly play there. The teens developed surveys and spent a day surveying neighborhood children at the playground. They drafted the design for the wall based on the survey results. After I instructed the teens how to tile the wall, we then invited the neighborhood children to work with us. Many of the children invited their families to join us and would proudly point out images or phrases in the design that came from their ideas. The teens hosted over 100 volunteers who contributed to the tiling and grouting process. Through the Mosaic Camp, these teens gain a chance to realize and practice their power to initiate positive change in their own neighborhoods.
