Hello Short Ave Families, Teachers and Friends!

Most of you know me, but for those of you who don't, please allow me to introduce myself.  I'm Tabitha Fronk, art therapist, teacher, and mosaic muralist.  I live in the neighborhood.  My favorite work is facilitating large scale collaborative mosaic murals.  Over the past 25 years, I have completed close to 40 mosaic murals at schools, hospitals, mental health centers, churches, rehabilitation centers, with people of all ages.  Unlike painted murals, mosaic murals can be made to last for permanent display.  I was honored to have the opportunity in Fall 2019, along with my talented assistant and art therapy colleague, Alé Richardson,  to join the team at Short Avenue Elementary.  We worked with the entire student body, from PreK through 6th Grade, on every stage of the mosaic process: brainstorming, creating a palette, breaking tiles, arranging, gluing and grouting.  We were delighted to meet so many funny, smart, creative, and hardworking children.  After seven months of super fun creative collaboration with students, families, and teachers, sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic hit.  We were forced to quarantine and pause our work for two months.  In June, we resumed mosaicking on our own, and were joined by a dream team of hand-picked LAUSD tile installers, led by the exceptional Tim Shutt.  In July, we entered the final patching/sealing/polishing phase of our mosaic and were thrilled to once again mosaic with some of you in person.   We now have a playful, colorful,  glittery, mosaic on permanent display, adorning the 256 sq ft. wall on the right side of the school's front door for all to enjoy.  It is truly spectacular.  Students who helped create it will be able to visit and enjoy it for many years to come.

Once we finished this mosaic, something struck us.  The smaller, bare wall on the left side of the door now looks very sad.  Fueled by the enthusiasm and pride expressed by so many of you, we continued developing a design for that side of the door, one which will perfectly complement our current mosaic, and complete the front wall of our school.   Special thanks to the expert design assistance of our uber talented friend and fellow mosaic artist, Yuriko Etue.  What we couldn't predict is that our funding would change so dramatically.   We are eager to get back to the mosaic studio...but we need your help! 

We are all hopeful that there will be a hybrid model where students will be allowed back on campus sometime this Spring 2021 Semester.   Alé and I plan to create together in a covid-sensitive manner.  All our interactions with small groups of students, teachers and families will be outdoors, keeping safe social distance, using masks and gloves and/or hand sanitizer.  In order to be ready to mosaic with students and families, we first need to purchase, transport and prepare mosaic supplies.  Our designs need to be transferred to our Wediboards.  Our boards need to be carved into shapes.  Our workspace needs to be arranged in a way that is better suited to covid era needs.  We will also visit online classrooms to further engage students in the creative process.

The wall on the left side of the front door is smaller than our last project (150 sq ft vs 256 sq ft).  We do have supplies left over from the last project, and I also have some of my own which I'm glad to donate (roughly valued at $1,700).  I've consulted with our LAUSD tile setting team, and they have generously offered to help with installation free of charge (valued at $9,000).  We will still need tiles, mortar, grout, sealer, hardware, panels and other supplies which I estimate costing $600.  My fee for professional services includes 10 months of teaching and creating, $10/hr x 25 hours/wk = $10,000.  I'd like to pay my assistant, Alé $20/hr x 5 hours/wk = $4000.  So, our grand total is: $14,600.

Please...contribute to the beauty and friendliness of our neighborhood.  Any donation you can make, large or small, will be put to good use, and sincerely appreciated.

Please help me get back to the work I love so much: teaching mosaics to children and families= you!  Now, more than ever, during this chaotic time, I really want to share the experience of satisfying creative expression, community, and collective healing that is possible when we put the pieces together.