REVOLUTION
REFLECTION
READING
RECYCLING
David Robinson • Lower Merion School District • February, 2012
Isaiah Zagar is a mosaic artist whose work is included in the permanent collections the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. He has received grants for his artistic excellence from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pew Charitable Trust for his work in Interdisciplinary Arts. He recently visited Welsh Valley Middle School to begin a mosaic project with students and the art teachers, Todd Marrone and Lori Rogers.
“Isaiah Zagar is an internationally recognized mosaic artist working in the Philadelphia area for 50 years,” Marrone said. “His work is featured in about 150 exterior and interior locations, many viewable by the public. Especially centered around The Magic Gardens, a 15-year project that encompasses his studio, gallery, catacombs and pathways on South Street.”
In addition to his commissioned work, Zagar offers weekend workshops nine times a year in the spring, summer and fall to about 20 or 30 people. He teaches them his process and then they all work together and collaborate on a huge piece. “My wife and I took that workshop with him five years ago,” Marrone said. “I was very inspired by his work.”
Marrone wrote a grant proposal for a mosaic mural at the entrance to the Welsh Valley Middle School auditorium. “The Educational Foundation of Lower Merion, a parent group, gave us a very generous grant and then our principal Scott Eveslage got very interested in the concept and matched the Education Foundation grant.”
“We hope to get all the students involved in this project,” Art Teacher Lori Rogers added. “Some will create components within the mosaic, such as ceramics, clay, and hand painted tiles. Other components will be glass and mirrors. Some kids will be involved first hand in putting the small tiles up, others will be involved in the grouting work. We will also have parents involved as docents to inform students about the artist and his work, as well as helping us ‘hands on,’ here on site as well as in our classrooms.”
On this initial day’s work at the wall, Zagar came to resolve the composition and place his pieces on the wall, then Marrone and Rogers will work with students and parents on the piece over the coming months. They expect to have it finished before the end of this school year.
“As to the design, we didn’t want something cliche, such as the Welsh Valley Dragon school logo,” Marrone explained. Considering Zagar’s body of widely respected work, Welsh Valley chose not to impose a design on the artist. “We invited Isaiah to make decisions so that it would look like and be indicative of his work,” Marrone said. “We did request that the design incorporate young people who are happy and celebrating life, but we left the composition up to him.”
]]>If a gaggle of gals cluster together, their monthly cycles begin to synchronize. If a gaggle of art galleries cluster together, their opening receptions begin to synchronize. Experience the latter on any given First Friday in Old City, Philadelphia. Join the eclectic crowd and spelunker the downtown streets between 5ish and 9ish to enjoy fresh art, stale crackers and boxed wine. When the dust settles, seek refuge in one of the many Old City eateries/drinkeries.
Depending on who you ask, Philadelphia is blessed or littered with hundreds of behemoth mosaic murals by local artist, Isaiah Zagar. Isaiah has been busy covering Philadelphia architecture in broken tile and glass for decades. As you promenade down South Street, you’re sure to inadvertently catch a glimpse of the Jim’s Steak grease stain on your shirt thanks to a shard of mirror plastered to a building by Zagar. Let that serve as a reminder to check out his breathtaking creative lab/labyrinth between 10th and 11th.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
In a perfect world, the Philadelphia Museum of Art would be best known for its stellar Marcel Duchamp collection, not a sweatsuit-clad pseudo-athlete climbing the stairs and waving his arms. Go beyond the obligatory front step photo op and step inside. Friday evenings include free musical performances so your ears don’t get jealous of your eyes.
Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties section has recently established itself as the bohemian epicenter of the City of Brotherly Love. Dozens of privately-owned galleries, boutiques, bars, restaurants and music venues lure the “indy” crowd to the North side of town. It’s like SoHo’s illegitimate stepbrother.
You know the old story; Boy gets rich by developing antiseptic drug, boy collects hundreds of paintings by THE most famous Impressionistic and 20th century artists, boy hangs them on the wall next to silverware and door hinges and develops an educational/aesthetic theory, boy gets hit by a truck. The Barnes Foundation has been in a perpetual state of financial and organizational turmoil ever since. This, however, does not change the fact it is home to one of the most exquisite private collections of art in the world. Check it out before it implodes.
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