Cooperative effort Ringgold art students learn teamwork in mosaic project
A mosaic built around the Monongahela River has been created by students at Ringgold High School.
Ringgold High School art teacher Theresa Campa, right, and Pittsburgh artist Laura Jean McLaughlin add grout to a mosaic created by students who worked with McLaughlin.
The Monongahela River cuts across a large mosaic created by art students at Ringgold High School in a partnership with a Pittsburgh artist.
A ram, the school’s mascot, also is depicted in a scene beside a historic red covered bridge, a landmark in this Mon Valley school district, as part of the art project designed to boost teamwork skills and build a sense of community.
“We learned how to work together,” said Megan Williams, a senior from Eighty Four.
Ringgold Superintendent Karen Polkabla recommended the school board last year form a partnership with the artist, Laura Jean McLaughlin, who oversaw a similar project in the Washington School District. That mosaic is now featured on a brick wall at the Main Street Farmers Market pavilion in the 100 block of South Main Street in Washington.
“I do a lot of these mosaics. There probably are 100 of them in schools,” said McLaughlin, who also is working on a similar project at Bobtown Elementary School in Greene County.
The Ringgold mosaic cost $5,600 to complete, and it was funded by the district and Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, she said.
“First I play a surrealism game to get their creative juices flowing,” she said.
The team then discusses a list of words and different symbols to be featured on the panels before the students sketch their ideas to build “confidence in drawing,” said McLaughlin, who creates the final design crafted mostly in clay and stained glass.
She worked with 30 students over 20 days to create the artwork on concrete panels. The mural is 15 feet long and 7 1/2 feet wide.
“It was really nice to see them all come together, piece by piece, to create this huge, awesome thing,” high school art teacher Theresa Campa said.
“They see things differently when they are with a working artist,” Campa said. “A lot of them are interested in being an artist, but are hesitant because they worry they are not going to make a career out of it.”
Senior Lauren Niziol of Eighty Four said up until the mosaic project, all of the artwork students created was done individually.
“We had to learn to cooperate.”
The mosaic will be hung in the district administration building in New Eagle.