Each time Elaine Helvig saw a blank wall, she would say to her fellow artists: “I could mosaic that.”
"That was just always one of my dreams, to create a large mosaic," she said.
Two years ago Helvig and the artists from the Slanted Art Co-op and Gallery in Montrose started to dream up a large mosaic mural. She asked Chaz and Susan Zellner, owners of the Church Street Marketplace, the local Community Cultural Arts Centre in Montrose, if they could create the mural on their building. They said "yes, please use our building."
On Saturday the artists and community will gather at the base of the 14-by-28-foot mural, named “Dare to Dream," and dedicate it to Montrose, Susquehanna County, and Northeast Pennsylvania. Zellner believes its the first large-scale mosaic mural in the region.
In mid-August Helvig stood on scaffolding lining the back wall of the gallery on Church Street. Behind the metal beams is her dream come true. Helvig has created smaller-scale mosaics for almost 20 years. She said it's surreal to see the large project come to life.
The scaffolding is down now.
The mural’s name represents a hope they have for children.
"They're told to stop daydreaming. And I hope they never stop daydreaming, because look what you can do," she said.
First the co-op artists were asked to think about their art form and how they would represent it on the wall. They came up with different icons.
"There's a coffee cup for the coffee shop that was up there. There's leather-making tools, there's glass blower, there's woodworking — as much as we could come up with to represent art and wellness stuff that brings the community together," said artist Laura McCarey.
Helvig taught many of the members how to mosaic. They sat on the basement floor of the co-op and drew out the mural. They created 200 sections and used mosaic mesh to put the artwork together inside. Some artists took the work home.
The icons are made out of ceramic, stained glass and porcelain tiles, which were all donated. The mirrored tiles glisten when they catch the sun.
"We would cut them down to make them smaller, and then we hand-nip them into shape,” said Helvig.
On July 20 the artists and volunteers from the community began to mortar the icons to the wall. They finished in under a month. Behind the icons is a blue background. It represents the flow of the sky, a nod to Amanda Edwards, a mosaic artist from Maine, said Helvig.
The bottom of the mural is lined with tiles community members purchased to help the mural come to life.
The dreamer sits in the lower left corner, with the icons flowing from them.
"I just can't believe how many people had such huge hearts to come in and help," Helvig said.
The mural dedication will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. behind the Church Street Marketplace, 158 Church St., Montrose.
