May 4th and 5th
Days before the Village Day … the big push….

So for the next two days we all worked together, project team, students, staff, parents, neighbours, friends and family to get as much of the mosaicking done as possible.

Some teachers even came in and placed their first pieces, much to the excitement of past participants, who already felt a sense of ownership and pride, to see their teacher place her first piece was a big moment.

We also all pulled together to prep signs, posters and other things for the big Village Day Celebration event.

Ting drew out the 6 panels on paper boards to be colored by the students and hung on the walls where the mosaic will eventually be mounted.

Each of the paper panels a replication representation of each mosaic panel.

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A big sign will say, "Watch for the Mosaics Coming Here Soon" was also created to hang in the windows.

The kids all had a great time creating the signs to go up and down Quadra Street and lead the people to our project.

We allowed the students to take some artistic license and color the panels any way they wanted - ie: pink cows :)

We were all busy these two days. The mosaics are really coming together with only a bit left to do, but its clear what each panel is about.

"Was great fun adding people crossing our corner at Quadra & Finlayson!!" Margret & Mirelle (Crossing Gaurds) - important to notice that in the fun, the ladies put two little children in the middle of intersection - OOPS!! We will need to fix that.

Everyone took their time to work on areas needing attention.

We even got the design for the raven panel finally drawn out by Karen Web. We decided to use the image of the raven from the book "Raven" which is the story we have been referring too throughout the project.

It looks amazing and so very exciting to have every panel of the project moving forward.

Today we had a great visit from the School Board office along with a Rabbi - who will be renting the Annex to create a Jewish Pre-school. Both gents placed a few pieces into the mosaics.

This afternoon we had many visitors Irene Corman - assistant super attendant from the school board and Bonnie Smith from the music department. Both where told about the historic stories in the mosaic panels and evolutionary aspects to the piece. Both where impressed and commented on the increased awareness of the Arts in SD 61.

Karen took a moment with a friend who came by to pause, reflect and breath under the shade of the lovely cherry tree..

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After School Workshop - the Push continues….

On the final push before Village Day, we had lots of people come out and help us mosaic.

Shona, her Dad, Don and friend came in too glue a few pieces. As it turns out Don's Dad, Shona's grandpa, went to Quadra in the 1930's, as well Shona's uncles went here in the 1960's. They all felt an extra connection to the school and this legacy building project. The three decided to stop by after Mireillle reminded them of the open time at the project while they were heading home - thanks Mireille !!

Ting had her husband and daughter help her put up the drawn panels.

Many thanks to them for taking the extra long time to tape up each panel and let everyone know where the mosaics will eventually be going.

Dr. Fawcett got Maurice the Moose into the mosaic and he looks great next to the "mosaic in the mosaic." Its important to notice the mirrors which finally went in today. More important to note the need for slow movements when cutting thick glass. I took a near miss today and slightly cut my forearm, which could have been much worse - Ting watched the whole thing and thought for sure I was going to the hospital. Opps..

The "mosaic in the mosaic" took a lot more time then expected - but really looks great and is a fun addition to the project itself.

I took a some time to add a few details to the 6th panel.

The dog being walked and the bicycle in the final panel, helping to represent the more active community we all want to live in.

The flower boxes got planted by the Marr family. Mrs. Marr is the teacher who brought the flower boxes to the school. Each year her family and a team from the school take turns mending and loving these lovely additions to the original schoolhouse. They are an important feature to the current school landscape.

After some crazy nipping the flowers come together and they look amazing and full of color.

Only waiting on the pink tiles for this panel to be DONE!!

We had many people stop by for a while and some for a moment to help us get as much done as possible before the big show and tell tomorrow. Many of the panels are so close to done and it's been a very exciting few days watching how quickly it has all come together - thanks to the TEAM work.

We also had the privilege of a short musical interlude by Fidel - who played us a tune on his fiddle while we all worked away.

It's hard to believe that this panel was only started today! A clear indication of what concentration and time can produce. This panel has special community unity in it as the brown tiles where given to us by the project I am working on in my hometown of Port Alberni - so the Unity has moved and become Island Community Unity. GREAT :)

All in all we had a few great days together as a community working hard to create Unity and art. We are well prepped for this weekend's big day.