Click here for more information about The Global Mosaic Project Trip to Haiti

The Global Mosaic Project brings community-based public art, arts education and entrepreneurial training to communities around the globe.

The Global Mosaic Project's mission is to foster positive community engagement through the creation of site-specific works of public mosaic art, leaving a legacy of neighborhood beautification, community cultural development and arts training for all ages. Founded by public artist, educator and community builder Laurel True, The Global Mosaic Project grew out of True's twenty-year practice creating community-based public mosaic projects, architectural mosaics and a respected teaching practice. The Global Mosaic Project is an ongoing project of True Mosaics Studio.

The Global Mosaic Project highlights the Power of Art in communities, focusing on the creative process and affirming that community-based art can be a vehicle for social change by empowering participants, transforming environments and contributing to collective healing and economic development. We partner with organizations, schools, community groups and businesses to develop unique participatory projects, designed and implemented through social engagement and action.

Our Programs Provide

Public Art
The Global Mosaic Project works directly with communities to create permanent, public artworks that enhance the sites where they are located. Projects may include; mosaic murals, sculptural forms, benches and other site- specific and public work. Projects are created using ceramic tile, glass, stone and other durable media. Local materials are sourced and recycled materials are used as much as possible. The resulting public artworks leave a lasting legacy of collective community action and becoming part of the social landscape.

Arts Education
The Global Mosaic Project offers art education to participants who oftentimes do not have access to formal arts training. In communities where arts programming is available, project participation can offer new skills and techniques or add a dimension of social practice and service learning to established curriculum. We provide lessons and training to participants in basic mosaic setting techniques, tools use and design practices. This is done through both grassroots and structured programming models and implemented either in or outside of a classroom setting.

Teacher Training and Professional Development

An important component of the Global Mosaic Project is to proffer specialized training for teachers, artists and trades people in communities where we work. This not only ensures future program sustainability, but also allows the process of creating public mosaics to spread to other communities.

Community Partnerships and Cross-Cultural Exchange
The Global Mosaic Project facilitates community partnerships and cross-cultural exchange between artists, schools and community groups in the US and in developing countries, building cultural bridges and encouraging dialogue and creative exchange between communities across the globe. One way we do this is by participating in short or ongoing residencies in schools and community centers in the US, with the aim of fostering relationship building, cross-cultural understanding and cooperation through creating related projects in different communities.

Craft Development and Product Design
The Global Mosaic Project supports economic development in the arts and social entrepreneurship. We work with artists and crafts people, offering design consultation for craft development and product design.

Our Projects Have Direct Community Impact Through

Neighborhood Beautification
Projects add welcoming color, positive messages and joy to public and community spaces. They can bring vitality and commerce back to formerly blighted or forgotten areas and create beauty in places where basic needs sometimes overshadow all else.

Community and Economic Development
Projects foster teamwork and cooperation among participants, sometimes sparking the implementation of other projects, activities and programs in the community. Projects help to lay the groundwork for economic development not only by training individuals, but also by making business districts and storefronts more welcoming and desirable.

Building Self-Esteem and Hope
Mosaic art is a very accessible art form, which invites participation by anyone who has the desire to try it. Participants find affirmation through the process of creation and the act of making. Art is an important tool for building hope, providing an outlet for personal expression and lifting spirits in communities that have suffered from stress, loss, disaster and poverty.

Knowledge Sharing
Participants become teachers and teachers become students as knowledge and experiences are shared among and between communities and participants during all phases of a project. This exchange is an essential part of the Global Mosaic Project. We offer lectures, inspiring speaking engagements and seminars around the US to share information, images and experiences of working with communities on global projects. Special focus seminars and professional development workshops offered in the US provide valuable content to community builders who wish facilitate projects in their own communities, guiding adult students in various methodologies for successful project facilitation, organization, management and execution.

Community Ripple Effect
Global Mosaic Projects leave a legacy of experience, inspiration and motivation with project participants. Many have gone on to create and facilitate projects in their own communities, passing on program benefits, beautifying neighborhoods, engaging new participants and affirming the power of art in all communities.

Photos:
Photo 1: Community Mosaic Mural at the Lower Ninth Ward Village, New Orleans. In partnership with Community Built Association.
Photo 2: Laurel with young mosaics artists in Nungua, Ghana
Photo 3: Sycamore Park Sandbox, Mill Valley, CA. In partnership with Leathers and Associates.
Photo 4: Young artists in front of Fisherman's Tale Mural, Nungua Ghana. In partnership with Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. Photo: Mary McDermott
Photo 5: Twin Thrones Bench, Duboce Park Playground, San Francisco, CA. Community project n partnership with Friends of Duboce Park.
Photo 6: Detail, Sea Spirits Mural, Jacmel, Haiti. Community mural project In partnership with Art Creation Foundation For Children.
Photo 7: Respect the Earth, community mosaic mural in Nungua, Ghana. In partnership with Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc.
Photo 8: Laurel True with young artists from Art Creation Foundation For Children, Nungua, Ghana. Photo: Erin Rogers
Photo 9: Student participants from Opportunity Impact at Hayes Valley Playground Project, San Francisco, CA. In partnership with Trust For Public Land. Photo courtesy of Trust For Public Land.
Photo 10: Student at Rudolph Steiner School, Mbagathi, Kenya working on design materials for Ngong Hills Mural.
Photo 11: Principle Mwakai Shake and teacher Philisia Shake working on Ngong Hills Mural at Steiner School, Mbagathi, Kenya. In partnership with Kitengela Glass.
Photo 12: Working on Home Mural at Belle Chase Academy, Belle Chase, Louisiana. Photo: Miriam Dennis-Harper
Photo 13: Commemorative Community Bench Project (1 of 9) in Jacmel and La Montagne, Haiti. In partnership with Medair International.
Photo 14: Teaching introductory mosaic techniques at Art Creation Foundation For Children, Jacmel, Haiti.
Photo 15: Handmade aprons made by artist Vicky Dzeklo and her women's group in Nungua, Ghana.
Photo 16: Charles Louis in front of the Jacmel Memorial Mosaic Wall, Jacmel, Haiti. In partnership with Art Creation Foundation For Children.
Photo 17: Withny Charles working on the Jacmel Memorial Mosaic Mural, Jacmel, Haiti. In partnership with Art Creation Foundation For Children.