Sara Jordan and Gabrielle Javier-Cerulli teamed up to facilitate a student-led process to bring something new and eye-popping to the other recent murals already adorning the Shelter's driveway. Sara and Gabrielle are both professional art therapists practicing their work in Madison, WI, and while both are talented artists in their own right, it is the art of facilitating an inclusive process while building meaningful relationships that was shining throughout this 2-month outdoor mosaic mural project.

As students began the school year in the classroom at the Shelter Home, they had the option to join in on the development and production of the "Waves Of Change" outdoor mosaic mural 2 times each week for 6 weeks.

Starting with the creation of alcohol ink tiles, smashing the tiles, cleaning the wall, laying out the design, gluing the broken tiles, grouting the tiles and ending with sealing the wall, the staff, students and artists all contributed tremendous amounts of perspective, conversation and hard work. The design, colors and name all came from students during the low-pressure creation and development sessions along the way.

Not only has it been safer to engage outdoors during the pandemic, one of the benefits of running a group mural project outside in the community is that the neighborhood begins to join the project in various ways -- including adding tiles to the wall, bringing boxes of old tiles to use in the project, bringing out of town visitors by to check out the process, and just stopping by every few days to check out the progress.

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? Use this map to locate this and other mosaic murals around Madison.

See more about this driveway transformation in this impact story.