Arts For Children's Enrichment

ACE BITS & PIECES!
Teaching
Jameh Mosque, Yazd, Iran Source
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ACE BITS & PIECES!
Table of Contents
Teaching
3. ACE Overall Purpose / Lesson Description
4. ACE Background
5. 4-H Life Skills Development
6 4-H Life Skills Pledge
8. Lesson Purpose & Materials
9. Outcomes and Targets
10. Guiding Questions
11. Accommodations
12. Teaching Checklist / References
13. Lesson Layout
15. Introduction Mosaic Activity
18. Introduction Mosaic Activity (Younger Version)
21. History of Mosaic Art
Surveys & Answer Keys

32. Post Leading Survey
33. Students Activity Survey
34. Before History Survey
35. After History Survey
36. History Answer Key
37. Before History Survey (Younger Version)
38. After History Survey (Younger Version)
39. History Answer Key (Younger Version)
A pseudo mosaic effect – grooved tiles
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Purpose of the Arts for Children’s Enrichment (ACE) Program
1. To provide experiential arts opportunities for as many youth as possible in King, Kitsap, Snohomish,
Pierce, and four other counties
2. Introduce youth to various mediums and forms of art expression that broaden their understanding
of culture, intercultural relations and sustainability
3. Support 4-H Life Skills Development
Learning to Learn (using one’s mind to form ideas and make decisions – includes critical thinking,
independent judgment, and creative problem solving)
Accepting Differences (recognizing and welcoming factors that separate or distinguish one person
from another (cultural understanding))
Communicating (exchanging thoughts, information or messages using artistic expression)
Bits & Pieces!
Get inspired by famous mosaics

from Italy, London, Afghanistan,
Barcelona, Istanbul and more!
Mosaics date back to 3,000 BC in
Mesopotamia. Mosaics are
complex – they can be made of
nearly anything but they tell a
story about the culture, the time,
and the place of the maker(s).
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ACE Background
The Arts (dance, theater, music, and visual arts)
Foster the development of higher-order thinking skills, including critical thinking, independent
judgment, and creative problem solving. The arts also provide uniquely stimulating vehicles for
student to communicate their own ideas.
Encourages students to experience creativity in a variety of roles through their own creations
and performances and through art works and performances of others
Provides opportunity for participatory learning”
ACE utilizes authentic arts resources to provide opportunities for performances and interactions
with professional artists
ACE makes connections with other subjects (BIG IDEAS)
ACE provides opportunity for reflection
ACE uses assessment as an ongoing part of the teaching and learning process
ACE uses the WSU College of Liberal Arts’ three integrated/interdisciplinary themes that address
collective global issues.
1. Cultural Understanding and Enhancing International and Intercultural Relations
2. Just and Sustainable Societies, Policies, and

Practices
3. Social, Cultural, and Psychological Impacts on

Human Health
Students will
1. Create original works of art
2. Perform new or existing works of art
3. Respond to the artworks and performances of self and other
Birds – A community mosaic by Tracey Cartledge, Manchester, UK
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4-H Life Skills Development:

Learning to Learn – using one’s mind to form ideas and make decision: to imagine, to examine, to
consider
1. Use my senses to gain new information or find new ways to use information
2. Judge the value of information for a given purpose
3. Be open minded, willing to think about and try new things
Accepting Differences - To recognize and welcome factors that separate or distinguish one person from
another.
1. Be aware of difference among people and their cultures
2. Explore, understand and value the contributions of a variety of people and their
interconnectedness
3. Welcome and participate in the opportunities that diversity offers
Relating- Communication – exchange of thoughts, information or messages between individuals;

sending and receiving information using speech, writing, gestures, and artistic expression
1. Be sensitive to thoughts and feelings of others
2. Consider ideas, thoughts information or messages that have been written or expressed
artistically
3. Hearing and interpreting verbal and non verbal (as in the arts) communications
By Saad Romany Mikhaiel, Cairo, Egypt
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4-H LIFE SKILLS

The 4-H Pledge
I pledge
My head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service, and
My health to better living,
For my club, my family, my community, my country, and my world.
HEAD
Thinking: Learning to use your mind to form ideas and make decisions, to imagine, to examine carefully,
and to consider.
Learning to learn – acquiring, evaluating and using information
Decision Making – choosing among several options
Problem solving – identifying and planning solutions to problems
Critical thinking – thinking and then deciding what to do
Service Learning – gaining skills by participating in community service
Managing: Learning to use resources wisely to reach goal
Goal setting – something to work towards
Planning or organizing – a way of doing something that has been planned a head of time
Wise use of resources – not being wasteful, managing personal finances
Resiliency – able to deal with change, overcoming problems
HEART
Relating: Learning to get along with other people
Communication – exchanging ideas, information, etc. in a respectful manner
Cooperation – working together for a common purpose
Social skills – showing respect and consideration for others
Conflict resolution - finding ways to resolve differences
Accepting differences – accepting differences are okay
Caring: Learning how to show understanding, kindness, concern and affection for others
Concern for other – caring about the well being of others
Empathy – being sensitive to another person’s feelings
Sharing – doing together with others
Nurturing relationships – providing care and attention to others
HANDS
Giving: Learning to provide, supply or make something happen
Community service and volunteering – giving one’s time and effort to help make difference for
someone else without expecting a reward
Leadership – helping a group reach goals by showing or directing the way
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Responsible citizenship – being involved in your community

Contributions to group efforts – sharing the responsi8bility of reaching a goal
Working: Learning physical or mental effort needed to accomplish something
Marketable skills – developing abilities to accomplish something
Teamwork – working together to accomplish all parts of a task
Self motivation – being able to make the effort to complete a task
HEALTH
Living: Learning to live without disease or injury, having a sound body and mind
Healthy lifestyle choices – eating right, exercising, enough rest, avoiding harmful activities
Stress management – learning positive ways to manage stress
Disease prevention - taking care of oneself and avoiding risky situations
Personal safety – taking care to avoid danger, risk or harm in order to be physically and
emotionally safe
Being: Learning to be all you can be; taking delight in who you are as a person
Self esteem – taking pride in and valuing oneself
Self responsibility – being accountable for one’s behavior
Character – managing one’s own emotions and being sensitive to others
Self-discipline – exercising self control that keeps in mind what is right or wrong
From http://www.bamm.org.uk/
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Lesson Purpose
This lesson, along with the website resources teaches participants about the artistry and
history of mosaic making around the world. Participants will:
1. explore world culture and history through mosaic

2. experiment with paper mosaic making
Materials
Dick Blick Art Supply Materials (www.dickblick.com)
- Various types of papers
- Mod podge glossy
- Paint brushes
- Presentation boards (11x14)
Queen Esther revealing her True Identigy by Lilian Broca, Canada
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Outcomes and Targets

National Art Standards State Standards Data Targets for Indicators
Sources
Students will apply Understands and Leaders and 80% of students will score “good or
techniques and applies arts Arts Faculty excellent” in demonstrating skill in
processes with sufficient concepts and Council execution of techniques on checklist
vocabulary
skill, confidence, and evaluation evaluation of student work
Component 1.1:
sensitivity that their reports on
intentions are carried out student
Develops arts
in their artworks skills and artwork
techniques
National Content Component 1.2 Pre-post 80% of students will score 80% or higher
Standard 1 student on arts surveys
assessment
reports
Students will Uses the arts to Pre-post 80% of and students will report improved
demonstrate improved express and student comfort in expressing themselves through
comfort in arts present ideas surveys art materials
expression through a and feelings
variety of mediums Co Component: 3.1
National Content
Standard 1
Students demonstrate Understands and Pre-post 80% of students will score 80% or higher
understanding of how applies arts student on history review quizzes
artworks differ visually, genres and styles assessment
spatially, temporally, and from various reports 80% of students will improve their pretest
functionally, and artists, cultures history scores
describe how these are and time Leaders and
related to history and Component 1.3 Arts Faculty 80% of students will integrate specific
culture Council cultural stylistic features in their artworks
evaluation
National Content reports of
Standards 3 & 4 student
artwork
National Content Standards (CS) and Washington Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALR)
CS1. Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes
CS3. Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas
CS4. Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures
EALR 1. The student understands and applies arts knowledge and skills in dance, music, theatre and visual arts.
EALR 3. The student communicates through the arts (dance, music, theatre and visual arts).
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Guiding Questions
Cultural Connections
 What do you know about mosaics?
 How do mosaics share culture?
 Where are mosaics predominantly made?
Art Questions
 What are some different types of mosaic?
 What can mosaic be made of?
 What are the different tiles called?
By mosaic artist: Angela Zimek, Klagenfurt, Austria
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Accommodations
This unit can be modified to suit all learning levels.
Multiple means of access

Instructor directed, group/peer discussion, online visuals, video, participant package
Multiples means of engagement

Reading aloud mosaic facts, group summaries, mosaic making, discussions with peers
Multiple means of expression

Selecting type of mosaic style (tessellating, repeating patterns, pseudo mosaic, opus sectile)
Differentiation Strategies
Differentiated instruction invites learning for students of varying skill levels, diverse students, students
with different learning styles, and includes all students
1. prepare art materials in advance
2. provide extra time for students if needed
3. focus on the cultural stylistic features of the art
4. encourage group tables to help one another
5. have another leader available to assist students one-on one
6. during the survey, guide the students through the survey by reading out the questions
7. create a timeline on the board or create a chart to help student understand the activity progression
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Teaching Checklist
To teach, you need:

1 copy for you:
 Copy of the lesson outline
 Introduction sheets (2) – cut these into strips
 Post Leading Survey
Copies for Each Participant
 Activity Surveys (on pink colored paper)
 Before History Surveys (on yellow colored paper)
 After History Surveys (on green colored paper)
Supplies listed in the right column of the lesson outline
References
- Images in the booklet and on the website are hyperlinked to the source
- The joy of shards Mosaics Resource
- Opus Sectile: The ancestor of Linoleum Floors
- Various links and videos are available online
Mosaic artist Michèle Artigue – Toulouse, France
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Lesson: Mosaics around the World (2 hours)

Approx. Task Details Materials
time
10 min Complete BOTH the Students complete upper portion of the activity Activity Survey
PRE Activity Survey survey and leave face down in the center of the BEFORE
and the BEFORE table. History Survey
History Survey Students draw a symbol on the top left corner to Pens to write
signify which one is theirs. No names. with
Complete the history survey
30 min Introduction Mosaic Activity: Have participants “draw” the Sheets of paper
information on their strip of “history” (5 min) on the wall
Internet
Have students write a big number on their sheet of
paper (corresponds to the number on their strip of
paper)
In number order, students read out their strips to

the group and explain their pictures
Watch a selection of videos from the listing markers for the

questions
Go through the resources and highlight key
information with participants
What are 2 questions you have?

Write these questions on the hanging newsprint on
the wall
10 min Activity Decide on a style of mosaic. Browse through old magazines
magazines and online images for ideas internet
10 min Discussion Talk about ideas and plans
Leader questions:
1. What do you notice about the mosaics you’ve

seen?
2. What style of paper mosaic are you planning to
use?
10 min Planning Lay out paper pieces on the table. Plan your colors scissors
and arrangement. You may want to sketch a rough (optional)
outline on your presentation board. Presentation
board
40min Use Mod Podge Start gluing down your mosaic on your Mod podge
presentation board – use lots of mod podge paint brushes
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10 min Clean up Students complete 2 surveys Bottom half of

Post-activity survey Leaders take photos of artwork (shoot directly over the Activity
the work to preserve angles) Survey
AFTER History
Survey
Camera
Leaders
complete a
Post-Leading
Survey
Reminder to Self:
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Introduction (After the pretest, do this Mosaic Activity. Cut into strips and have students “draw”
this information on a sheet of hanging paper. After 5 minutes, students read aloud their own strip and
explain their pictures. If students are uncomfortable reading out their strips, they can ask the leader
to read for them. Students can work alone or in pairs.)
1. The history of mosaic goes back some 4,000 years or more, with the use of terracotta cones pushed
point-first into a background to give decoration.
2. By the eighth century BC, there were pebble pavements, using different colored stones to create
patterns, although these tended to be unstructured decoration.
3. It was the Greeks, in the fourth centuries BC, who raised the pebble technique to an art form, with
precise geometric patterns and detailed scenes of people and animals.
4. By 200 BC, specially manufactured pieces ("tesserae") were being used to give extra detail and range
of color to the work. Using small tesserae, sometimes only a few millimetres in size, meant that
mosaics could imitate paintings. Many of the mosaics preserved at, for example, Pompeii were the
work of Greek artists.
5. The expansion of the Roman Empire took mosaics further afield, although the level of skill and
artistry was diluted. If you compare mosaics from Roman Britain with Italian ones you will notice
that the British examples are simpler in design and less accomplished in technique.
6. Typically Roman subjects were scenes celebrating their gods, domestic themes and geometric
designs. The inter-twined rope border effect here is called "guilloche".
7. With the rise of the Byzantine Empire from the 5th century onwards, centered on Byzantium (now
Istanbul, Turkey), the art form took on new characteristics. These included Eastern influences in
style and the use of special glass tesserae called smalti, manufactured in northern Italy. These were
made from thick sheets of colored glass. Smalti have a rough surface and contain tiny air bubbles.
They are sometimes backed with reflective silver or gold leaf.
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8. Whereas Roman mosaics were mostly used as floors, the Byzantines specialized in covering walls
and ceilings. The smalti were ungrouted, allowing light to reflect and refract within the glass. Also,
they were set at slight angles to the wall, so that they caught the light in different ways. The gold
tesserae sparkle as the viewer moves around within the building.
9. In the west of Europe, the Moors brought Islamic mosaic and tile art into the Iberian peninsula in
the 8th century, while elsewhere in the Muslim world, stone, glass and ceramic were all used in
mosaics. In contrast to the figurative representations in Byzantine art, Islamic motifs are mainly
geometric and mathematical.
10. In Arabic countries a distinctive decorative style called zillij uses purpose-made ceramic shapes that
are further worked by hand to allow them to tessellate (fit together perfectly to cover a surface).
11. Found objects have been used as mosaic materials in a range of ways, for example in Victorian shell
grottoes and "putty pots", where china and other items (buttons, toy figures etc) are stuck to a base
with linseed putty. This kind of collage of personal objects with connections to everyday life is also
sometimes called "memoryware".
12. Mosaic is in a healthy state in the early 21st century, despite a tendency for it to be thought of as
more the work of craftspeople than artists. Perhaps this is a difficulty in accepting the fact that
mosaics often have a dual function, for example as flooring, and also because it is a very accessible,
non-elitist form of creativity.
13. The modern world takes so much for granted! The now humble linoleum floor, with its simple
squares of color, was a great luxury when first commercialized in the 19c, since it threw open to the
rest of us what only the very rich could afford: decorative flooring that once had to be made of
precisely cut polished varicolored marble.
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14. Such opulence and beauty was bought at a price. Quarrying stone without modern machinery was
difficult, dangerous, and unhealthy enough; but the specialized quarrying of these thin slices,
or crustae, involving far more dust and consequent death from lung disease, seems to have been
the special work of condemned criminals sent to "the mines", to the point where an author, writing
a chapter on legal punishments in the seventh century, specifically mentions cutting crustae as the
reason for deporting the condemned.
15. The techniques were extended and taken to great heights in panels not only used as merely
incidental flooring but as monumental decoration in their own right, and imagination gained in the
process. The repeating tile flooring was no longer just geometric opus sectile but evolved into true
works of art.
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YOUNGER VERSION
Introduction (After the pretest, do this Mosaic Activity. Cut into strips and have students “draw”
this information on a sheet of hanging paper. After 5 minutes, students read aloud their own strip and
explain their pictures. If students are uncomfortable reading out their strips, they can ask the leader
to read for them. Students can work alone or in pairs.)
1. Some mosaics are as old as 4,000 years or more. A long time ago,
some people used terracotta cones pushed into a background to give
decoration.
2. By the eighth century BC, there were pebble pavements, using

different colored stones to create patterns.
3. The Greeks, in the fourth centuries BC, made the pebble technique
into art by making detailed patterns and pictures of people and
animals.
4. By the second century BC, little tile pieces called "tesserae" were
used to make very detailed work with lots of colors.
5. From the 5th century onwards, Byzantine mosaics were made on

walls and ceilings. These mosaics had tiles made of glass and the
light was able to pass through the little tiles. These were very
beautiful.
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6. Islamic mosaics, developing in another part of the world, were

mainly patterns and repeating designs. .
7. Some people put personal objects into their mosaics, like buttons
and toy figures. These mosaic artworks are called "memoryware".
8. Mosaics can be very intricate. Some people have tile designs in their
kitchens or bathrooms. When these tiles have designs that fit
together and repeat, they are called tessellating tiles.
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Leader’s Information
on Mosaic History
This website shows all this information:
http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/history/index.shtml
Show participants the website or the pages below
and draw their attention to the
highlighted sections (bold font).
You can use this technique for all age groups.
Share information points from the EXTRA pages

that are interesting to you.
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The History of Mosaic Art - Mosaics in the Ancient World

ALL INFORMATION HERE IS FROM THIS WEBSITE: http://www.thejoyofshards.co.uk/history/index.shtml
The history of mosaic goes back some

4,000 years or more, with the use of
terracotta cones pushed point-first into
a background to give decoration. By
the eighth century BC, there were
pebble pavements, using different
colored stones to create patterns,
although these tended to be
unstructured decoration. It was the
Greeks, in the four centuries BC, who
raised the pebble technique to an art
form, with precise geometric patterns
and detailed scenes of people and
animals.
By 200 BC, specially manufactured pieces ("tesserae") were being used to give extra detail and range of
color to the work. Using small tesserae, sometimes only a few millimetres in size, meant that mosaics
could imitate paintings. Many of the mosaics preserved at, for example, Pompeii were the work of Greek
artists.
The mosaic here shows the god Neptune

with Amphitrite (on the right) and is in
Herculaneum, Italy. It is a wall mosaic which
uses pieces of glass to give the vivid colors
and reflect light. Glass was not suitable for
floor mosaics. Here, the tesserae were
mainly small cubes of marble or other
stone. Sometimes bits of pottery, such as
terracotta, or brick were used to provide a
range of colors.
The expansion of the Roman Empire took

mosaics further afield, although the level of skill and artistry was diluted. If you compare mosaics from
Roman Britain with Italian ones you will notice that the British examples are simpler in design and less
accomplished in technique.
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Typically Roman subjects were scenes celebrating their gods, domestic themes and geometric designs.
The inter-twined rope border effect here is called "guilloche".
Byzantine mosaics
With the rise of the Byzantine Empire from the 5th century
onwards, centered on Byzantium (now Istanbul, Turkey), the art
form took on new characteristics. These included Eastern
influences in style and the use of special glass tesserae called
smalti, manufactured in northern Italy. These were made from
thick sheets of colored glass. Smalti have a rough surface and
contain tiny air bubbles. They are sometimes backed with
reflective silver or gold leaf.
The mosaic below is from the ceiling of the baptistery in
Florence, Italy. Other spectacular examples can be found in
Ravenna, Venice and Sicily and in Istanbul.
Whereas Roman mosaics were mostly used as floors, the

Byzantines specialized in covering walls and ceilings. The smalti
were ungrouted, allowing light to reflect and refract within the glass. Also, they were set at slight angles
to the wall, so that they caught the light in different ways. The gold tesserae sparkle as the viewer
moves around within the building.
Roman images were absorbed into the typical
Christian themes of the Byzantine mosaics, although
some work is decorative and some incorporates
portraits of Emperors and Empresses.
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Islamic Mosaic Art

In the west of Europe, the

Moors brought Islamic
mosaic and tile art into the
Iberian peninsula in the 8th
century, while elsewhere in
the Muslim world, stone,
glass and ceramic were all
used in mosaics. In contrast
to the figurative
representations in Byzantine
art, Islamic motifs are mainly
geometric and
mathematical.
Examples can be seen in Spain at the Great Mosque at Cordoba and the Alhambra Palace. In Arabic
countries a distinctive decorative style called zillij uses purpose-made ceramic shapes that are further
worked by hand to allow them to tessellate (fit together perfectly to cover a surface).
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EXTRA
Medieval to Modern
In the rest of Europe, mosaic went into general decline throughout the Middle Ages. However a
flourishing tile industry led to mosaic tiling patterns in abbeys and other major religious buildings, for
example. As well as the interlocking patterns of tiles, there are some other mosaic techniques,
including pseudo mosaic and opus sectile.
Pseudo Mosaic
Why go to all the trouble of placing lots of
mosaic tesserae if you can just put down
tiles that give the appearance of mosaic? It
was first used in medieval times, when a
tile would be scored with lines to make it
look as though it was made up of a number
of pieces, and was revived in the Victorian
era. In the 1860s, the firm Maw and
Company took out a patent on a process for
producing pseudo mosaic tiles. The method
involved making a tile with grooves - these
were then filled with cement, to look like
grout.
Most mosaics are made of many small pieces (tesserae) which create a design
Opus Sectile Mosaic. The overall effect depends on the colours, sizes, shapes, and arrangement of the
pieces, and on the spaces between them (the interstices, or grouting joints). Opus sectile is a technique
where, instead of having lots of individual
tesserae, shapes in a picture are made from larger, specially cut pieces, usually of tile or stone. It is a
practice that goes back to ancient Greece and Rome.
This sea creatures are part of the floor in the Chapel

of Saint Andrew. They are very detailed marble work,
with the shapes cut from thin slices of the stone. This
inlaying is similar to original opus sectile mosaic and
it is rather like "pietre dure".
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The mottling and streaking on the marble is used skillfully to mimic the texture of the shells of the
lobster and crab.
The name "opus sectile" translates as "cut work". In the Victorian period the term began to be used for
a different style of mosaic treatment, as in the example below from Chapel of St Gregory and St
Augustine at Westminster Cathedral. Panels like this were made by Powells (James Powell and Sons)
using specially made shaped glass tiles with a painted design on surface.
These panels had the durability of mosaic, but the painting allowed more detail to be shown in a
smaller space. This meant that they could be used where they would be seen close to, or where a life-
like portrait was wanted of a particular person. Traditional mosaic was often combined with opus
sectile. In this picture of an
angel in Winchester
Cathedral, red, black, white
and gold mosaic glass tiles have
been used for the background
and border. There are also
shaped pieces of mother-of-
pearl forming the angel's halo,
in a manner more like ancient
opus sectile work.
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Modern Mosaics
There's a place for opus sectile in modern mosaic too. In these

examples a heart shaped from a single tile contrasts with the
fragmented background, while the smile on the right is all the more
bold for being formed of a single piece of ceramic.
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Opus Sectile: The Ancestor of Linoleum Floors

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/Topics/Architecture/Elements/decorative/pavements/opus_sectile.html
The modern world takes so much for granted! The now humble linoleum floor, with its simple squares of
color, was a great luxury when first commercialized in the 19c, since it threw open to the rest of us what
only the very rich could afford: decorative flooring that once had to be made of precisely cut polished
varicolored marble.
These typically geometric 'jigsaw puzzles' made of thinly sliced veneers of stone take no great
imagination, just a lot of money. Vitruvius, writing in roughly the time of Augustus, seems to be the first
to mention them (pavimenta sectilia, literally "sliced pavements", de Architectura, VII.1.3) but with
the expansion of the Roman empire, drawing on the vast resources of many subject regions, vividly
colored stone and floors made of different varieties of it steadily grew in favor, finally becoming a
hallmark of the Late Antique period: the characteristic orange giallo di Siena from Italy, black-and-white
marble from Aquitania in SW Gaul, yellow Numidian marble from North Africa, green porphyry and the
prized red from Ethiopia, and the list goes on.
That same list, however, would serve as a catalogue of some of the unhappiest places in the Roman
world; such opulence and beauty was bought at a price. Quarrying stone without modern machinery
was difficult, dangerous, and unhealthy enough; but the specialized quarrying of these thin slices,
or crustae, involving far more dust and consequent death from lung disease, seems to have been the
special work of condemned criminals sent to "the mines", to the point where Isidore, writing a chapter
on legal punishments in the seventh century, specifically mentions cutting crustae as the reason for
deporting the condemned (Orig. V.27.31).
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The techniques were extended and taken to great heights in panels not only used as merely incidental
flooring but as monumental decoration in their own right, and imagination gained in the process. This
wonderful Late Antique intarsio panel, about 2 meters long, one of a set from the basilica of Junius
Bassus, is no longer geometric opus sectile but a true work of art:
Nor did opus sectile ever really die with Roman civilization. As soon as life in the Western world again
got beyond the bare needs of survival, patterned floors of colored stone made their reappearance, at
first with the characteristically Italian Cosmatesque work of the early Middle Ages, actually constructed
of the débris of Antiquity by slicing up the now useless but still omnipresent marble and porphyry
columns of temples and palaces.
Cosmatesque work on the floor of the cathedral of Civita Castellana
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The Art Nouveau Movement

The Art Nouveau movement also embraced mosaic art. In Barcelona, Antoni Gaudi worked with Josep
Maria Jujol to produce the stunning ceramic mosaics of the Guell Park (below) in the first two decades of
the 20th century. These used a technique known as trencadis in which tiles (purpose-made and waste
tiles) covered surfaces of buildings. They also incorporated broken crockery and other found objects, a
revolutionary idea in formal art and architecture.
Found objects have been used as mosaic materials in a range of ways, for example in Victorian shell
grottoes and "putty pots", where china and other items (buttons, toy figures etc) are stuck to a base
with linseed putty. This kind of collage of personal objects with connections to everyday life is also
sometimes called "memoryware".
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Modern mosaics
Mosaic is in a healthy state in the early 21st

century, despite a tendency for it to be thought of
as more the work of craftspeople than artists.
Perhaps this is a difficulty in accepting the fact that
mosaics often have a dual function, for example as
flooring, and also because it is a very accessible,
non-elitist form of creativity. The field is rich with
new ideas and approaches, and organizations such
as the British Association for Modern
Mosaic (BAMM Gallery) and The Society of
American Mosaic Artists exists to promote mosaic.
Lady Madagascar by Bonnie Fitzgerald
30
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Surveys
31
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Post Leading Survey

After teaching in your county
LEADERS
Oh no! Ok Good Excellent
My comfort level in leading 4H
club art activities
My ability to apply arts concepts,
skills, and techniques in designing
and making a mosaic I’m proud of
My comfort in expressing myself
through the art materials used in
this lesson (paper/mod podge)
My knowledge about mosaic
history
Open reflection:
Highlights of the lesson:
Suggestions to improve the curriculum guide:
32
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Students Activity Survey

BEFORE the Workshop
STUDENTS
Oh no! Ok Good Excellent
My comfort level in doing 4H club
art activities

history
AFTER the
Workshop
STUDENTS Oh no! Ok Good Excellent

My comfort level in doing 4H club
art activities

history
33
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Please complete this BEFORE History Survey to the best of your ability. You do not need to
put your name on the survey. The survey results help the program designers to improve their materials.
Thank you in advance. Please circle the correct answer.
1. The history of mosaic goes back some
400 years 2000 years 4000 years or more
2. Some mosaics are unstructured decoration
yes no
3. Which group of people, in the fourth century BC, raised the pebble technique to an art form,
with precise geometric patterns and detailed scenes of people and animals?
The Chinese The Greeks The Romans
4. What was being used by 200 BC to give extra detail and range of color to the work?
tesserae smalti grout
5. If you compare mosaics from Roman Britain with Italian ones, what will you notice?
simpler in design less accomplished in technique both
6. What were common Roman subjects?
scenes celebrating their gods domestic themes geometric designs all
7. The Byzantine Empire introduced the use of special colored glass tiles called
8. Whereas Byzantine were mostly used as floors, the Roman mosaics specialized in covering
walls and ceilings
true false
9. Islamic motifs are mainly geometric and mathematical
true false
10. In Arabic countries a distinctive decorative style called zillij uses purpose-made ceramic
shapes that are further worked by hand to allow them to
look metallic tessellate create optical illusions
34
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Please complete this AFTER History Survey to the best of your ability. You do not need to put
your name on the survey. The survey results help the program designers to improve their materials.
Thank you in advance. Please circle the correct answer.
yes no
walls and ceilings
true false
true false
35
ACE BITS & PIECES!
History Survey Answer Key

yes no
walls and ceilings
true false
true false
36
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Please complete this BEFORE History Survey to the best of your ability. Please
circle the right answer.
1. Some mosaics are as old as
2. Which group of people, a very long time ago, made mosaics into
an art by making pictures with tiles?
4. What was the special mini tile used that gave extra detail and
color to the work?
5. Byzantine mosaics were beautiful tile pictures made on walls

and ceilings.
true false
6. Islamic mosaics are mainly repeating patterns.
true false
37
ACE BITS & PIECES!
Please complete this AFTER History Survey to the best of your ability. Please
circle the right answer.
color to the work?

and ceilings.
true false
true false
38
ACE BITS & PIECES!
ANSWER KEY
color to the work?

and ceilings.
true false
true false
39

Arts For Children's Enrichment

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Arts For Children's Enrichment

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ACE BITS & PIECES!

Jameh Mosque, Yazd, Iran Source

Surveys & Answer Keys

A pseudo mosaic effect – grooved tiles

Purpose of the Arts for Children’s Enrichment (ACE) Program

3. Support 4-H Life Skills Development

Communicating (exchanging thoughts, information or messages using artistic expression)

Bits & Pieces!

Get inspired by famous mosaics

The Arts (dance, theater, music, and visual arts)

Provides opportunity for participatory learning”

ACE makes connections with other subjects (BIG IDEAS)

ACE provides opportunity for reflection

1. Cultural Understanding and Enhancing International and Intercultural Relations

2. Just and Sustainable Societies, Policies, and

3. Social, Cultural, and Psychological Impacts on

Birds – A community mosaic by Tracey Cartledge, Manchester, UK

4-H Life Skills Development:

Relating- Communication – exchange of thoughts, information or messages between individuals;

By Saad Romany Mikhaiel, Cairo, Egypt

4-H LIFE SKILLS

Responsible citizenship – being involved in your community

1. explore world culture and history through mosaic

Queen Esther revealing her True Identigy by Lilian Broca, Canada

Outcomes and Targets

By mosaic artist: Angela Zimek, Klagenfurt, Austria

This unit can be modified to suit all learning levels.

Multiple means of access

Multiples means of engagement

Multiple means of expression

To teach, you need:

Mosaic artist Michèle Artigue – Toulouse, France

Lesson: Mosaics around the World (2 hours)

In number order, students read out their strips to

Watch a selection of videos from the listing markers for the

What are 2 questions you have?

1. What do you notice about the mosaics you’ve

10 min Clean up Students complete 2 surveys Bottom half of

2. By the eighth century BC, there were pebble pavements, using

5. From the 5th century onwards, Byzantine mosaics were made on

6. Islamic mosaics, developing in another part of the world, were

You can use this technique for all age groups.

Share information points from the EXTRA pages

The History of Mosaic Art - Mosaics in the Ancient World

The history of mosaic goes back some

The mosaic here shows the god Neptune

The expansion of the Roman Empire took

Whereas Roman mosaics were mostly used as floors, the

Islamic Mosaic Art

In the west of Europe, the

This sea creatures are part of the floor in the Chapel

There's a place for opus sectile in modern mosaic too. In these

Opus Sectile: The Ancestor of Linoleum Floors

Cosmatesque work on the floor of the cathedral of Civita Castellana

The Art Nouveau Movement

Mosaic is in a healthy state in the early 21st

Lady Madagascar by Bonnie Fitzgerald

Post Leading Survey

Highlights of the lesson:

Suggestions to improve the curriculum guide:

Students Activity Survey

My ability to apply arts concepts,

STUDENTS Oh no! Ok Good Excellent