MONTICELLO — An $8,000 grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board will help the city to further expand its artistic goals, adding more vibrance and color to a downtown in transition.
The money will be used by MontiArts to host mosaic art classes for the public and to create mosaic concrete seating and other community-built public art pieces for the downtown area, all with the help of a regional mosaic master.
“I think that’s a cool thing that MontiArts can help with in Monticello, as the city works on a plan to make the downtown more pedestrian friendly and more beautiful,” said Sue Seeger, director of MontiArts.
The Downtown Mosaic Art Project will be led by Laura Ruprecht, a skilled Minnesota-based stained glass mosaic artist, who will work with MontiArts staff and area residents to create community-built public art pieces.
“She’s going to work on six pretty intricate designs that will go on some of the seating downtown,” Seeger said. “They’ll be on these round concrete cylindrical benches.”
Ruprecht already taught a beginner mosaic class in town, which filled up quickly, Seeger said. She’ll be returning in June, Seeger said, to teach more classes and get the project going.
“I can’t wait to work with this organization and community again …” Ruprecht wrote on Facebook. “Absolutely everyone was a joy to get to know and create together.”
The Downtown Mosaic Art Project will run throughout the summer months, with workshops planned in June, July, August and September with Ruprecht.
The first one is slated for the weekend of June 1-2 at the MontiArts Garage, where Ruprecht will be teaching an intermediate-level fish-mosaic workshop for adults. It filled within days of being announced, but there is a wait list available, in case another class is added.
Three more advanced workshops will begin June 29, Aug. 3 and Sept. 7, with each one running for about a month. For adults only, participants will learn advanced glass cutting and shaping skills, and how to create an intricate mosaic on top of a printed design overlayed with backing mesh. There are only eight slots available for each of these.
Those who would like to sign up for any of these workshops should contact Seeger at sue.montiarts@gmail.com.
Seeger urged anyone who may be interested in taking part in the project to contact MontiArts.
“Anyone who’s interested in learning mosaic work, get on our list and we’ll show you what to do,” she said.
The city has already received a check of $6,400 from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, and, at completion of the project, will receive the remaining amount.
However, once the grant funds have been used, Seeger said MontiArts plans to continue adding on to the mosaic project.
“We want to continue creating more public seating and public mosaic pieces,” she said, using the skills that Ruprecht will have endowed them with.
Ruprecht is from St. Cloud, where she helped to facilitate two similar mosaic public art pieces in that city’s downtown district. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art from the College of St. Benedict’s in St. Joseph.
The mosaic project is part of the Monticello 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which includes a chapter committed to community character, design and the arts.
The goals specifically call for using artistic streetscape elements to encourage economic development and vitality as well as a commitment to public art programming that includes opportunities for participation and expression.
For more information on the artist, visit her website, www.lauralizmosaicbiz.com.
For more information on MontiArts, visit www.montiarts.com.
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