Mosaic bench made by a middle school class

The 7/8th grade art class worked together to create this bench that was then installed at the Commodore building.

We started with a plain concrete bench that had been donated for the project. We gave the students the option of dividing the bench into sections with each student having a section, or working on a group idea for the entire mosaic project. They opted to come together on a background color (blue glass) and then have small groups put designs on different parts of the bench.

Students gathered their tumbled glass pieces and then had a wonderful time spreading tile adhesive and laying down their mosaic glass designs. The entire bench took two 45 minute class periods to apply the glass. Every student was absorbed in the art and extremely pleased with the result (although, being 7th & 8th graders, they pretended to be quite casual). When the adhesive was dry we grouted the mosaic bench.

The bench is now a beautiful fixture outside of Odyssey School. One of the students from that class contacted me and created several mosaic benches for his senior eagle scout project. He created 3 benches from poured concrete to finished mosaic and donated them to a local school. He apprenticed in my studio for a while and is now a successful college sophomore at a highly regarded art school.