Anne Lukas at Fox

Anne Lukas was chosen to serve as the spring 2009 Artist in Residence at Dorothy Fox Elementary, helping students create unique square-foot mosaic tile designs to go home with each child at the end of the year.

Lukas said, "I‘m new to teaching and so grateful to have this opportunity to work on a project of this scale. I hope it's been as valuable a learning experience for the children as it has been for me. Every day is new, and I love working with all the different age levels. I recently had my first class of kindergartners. As I was explaining a concept, one of the kids raised his hand to inform me, 'That’s not the way Curious George does it.' I didn’t really know how to respond to that one, but it had me smiling for the rest of the day."

What makes this project so exciting, Lukas added, is that the fifth graders find it as challenging as the kindergartners do.

"Contrast and simplicity of design are required to complete a tile mosaic of this size," she said. "These are both surprisingly advanced and challenging concepts. Assembling the random shapes of tile tightly together to fit within their design is like doing a puzzle. The brain functions required for art and creativity are just as important to develop as those required for the academic classes. Not only are the children having fun, they are developing fine motor skills and using higher level thinking and creativity."

Supplies:

500 students
dozens of dedicated parent volunteers
over 1000 pounds of tile
countless hours breaking, sorting and hauling over 1000 lbs of tile
14 gallons of adhesive
300 pounds of grout

Special Thanks To:
Dorothy Fox PTA and all the dedicated parent and teacher volunteers
Kathleen Meriwether, assistant teacher and organizer
Oregon Tile and Marble
Venice Genoa Tile LLC
Pratt and Larson Tile
Habitat for Humanity Restore
Adam Beck at Cascade General

Anne Lukas Studio
(360) 844-5413 cell
(360) 690-5533
anne@annelukas.com
www.annelukas.com