Michele Pollina, Dean’s office employee, has created a new Mosaic Club that gives students and staff the opportunity to express themselves by designing art with broken glass. Mosaic is a different style of art that allows someone to personalize their own design with small pieces of glass, stone or raw materials.

“[The process of creating a mosaic] was a great team building experience,” Pollina said. “It’s so therapeutic, and it’s almost like putting a puzzle together.”

Pollina describes the after school club as a way for students to try something new and have fun. Although mosaics are not well known around GBS, Pollina states that any beginner student can learn how to make their own mosaic.

“[Beginners] are the types of people I love working with,” Pollina said. “I love working with people who have never done it before. The fun thing about it is once you learn how to do mosaics, you don’t need tons of classes because you have that ‘Aha! moment,’ and you can go out and do your own projects.”

According to Pollina, you don’t need artistic experience to join the club, and every student and staff member is welcome. Senior Eyram Agbenya, a student in the club, says that she was apprehensive about trying mosaics, but immediately felt that it was a creative medium that she enjoyed.

“When I saw it, I was like, ‘This is totally me’,” Agbenya said. “I was very interested when I saw the tiles, and I thought I could do this.”

Agbenya was just a beginning mosaicist with no prior experience in any art classes. However, according to Agbenya, she wanted to try something new and share it with her friends.

“[When] I went there, it was just me and some other women and staff members,” Agbenya said. “It was fun, talking to the ladies and everything. It was so much fun and I loved it. People have to come in and help out.”

Over time, more students were able to participate and spread the word of the new Mosaic Club. Recently, the club has been working on a special group project, and are learning to create their own individual projects. Any student can learn the basic process of making a mosaic and could start their own projects, according to Pollina.

“It’s really just having the materials, having a vision and knowing how to use the specific adhesives,” Pollina said.

Pollina mentioned that you can mosaic any materials such as stone, plates, or glass that you buy at any hardware store. She also teaches her students the direct method of mosaics to create their own designs and learn the basic routine of mosaic art.

“I teach [students] the direct method which means you have a substrate, or you have a surface that you glue everything on to, and you take a piece directly, and you glue it on to that surface,” Pollina explained.

According to the Mosaic Art School, other methods and techniques of mosaics include indirect, portrait, double reverse, coccio pesto and more. After every club meeting, a student gains the knowledge of making a new art form that allows them to use their imagination.

“I want everyone to love it as much as I do,” Pollina stated. “I want exposure for this wonderful work of art that I think everybody should try… It brings you to a whole other level of making art than we’re used to.”

To join the club, students can attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45 p.m to 5 p.m in the Student Activites Conference Room.