Leeds School volunteer Alissa Imre Geis, parent of a fourth grader and a second grader, works with third graders Alex Bajracharya, left, Rosie Tauer and Rob Smith-Sullivan on the middle section of a glass and ceramic tile mosaic for the lobby of the school on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Earlier this spring students from kindergarten through fifth grade submitted drawings about their school experience, which resident artist Joshua Winer of Boston then viewed to get a sense of what is important to the Leeds community, incorporating many of the original illustrations into his design. Over the span of two weeks in their regular classes with art teacher Leslie Macutkiewicz, students cut and cemented the 40,000 tiles that form the 5-by-10-foot piece. Macutkiewicz and third-grade teacher Laura Ginsberg-Peltz funded the mosaic project with grants from the Northampton Education Foundation and STARS Residencies (Students and Teachers working with Artists, Scientists, and Scholars).
Leeds School volunteer Alissa Imre Geis, parent of a fourth grader and a second grader, works with third graders Alex Bajracharya, left, Rosie Tauer and Rob Smith-Sullivan on the middle section of a glass and ceramic tile mosaic for the lobby of the school on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Earlier this spring students from kindergarten through fifth grade submitted drawings about their school experience, which resident artist Joshua Winer of Boston then viewed to get a sense of what is important to the Leeds community, incorporating many of the original illustrations into his design. Over the span of two weeks in their regular classes with art teacher Leslie Macutkiewicz, students cut and cemented the 40,000 tiles that form the 5-by-10-foot piece. Macutkiewicz and third-grade teacher Laura Ginsberg-Peltz funded the mosaic project with grants from the Northampton Education Foundation and STARS Residencies (Students and Teachers working with Artists, Scientists, and Scholars). Credit: GAZETTE STAFF/KEVIN GUTTING

On Tuesday at Leeds Elementary School, students and volunteers were hard at work in the art room cutting and cementing some of the 40,000 bits of glass and ceramic tiles that will complete a mosaic to be installed in the lobby of the school next week. Earlier this spring, students from all grades, kindergarten through fifth, submitted drawings to resident artist Joshua Winer of Boston about their school experience so that he could get a sense of what is important to the Leeds community. Winer then incorporated these original illustrations into the final design and for the last two weeks he has been meeting with the students in their art classes to guide them in the hands-on creation of the five-by-ten-foot work destined for a sunny spot in the central stairwell of the school. Art teacher Leslie Macutkiewicz and third grade teacher Laura Ginsberg-Peltz obtained funding for the Leeds School Mosaic Project with grants from the Northampton Education Foundation and STARS Residencies (Students and Teachers working with Artists, Scientists, and Scholars).