Title:  Burr Elementary School Mosaic Mural Project


Site:  Burr Elementary School
1621 W. Wabansia, Chicago

Artist:  Chris Tavares Silva


Community Participants: Burr Elementary School students and staff


Sponsors:  Chicago Public Art Group


Year:  2001


Scale:  Five - 60 x 40 inch insets


Materials:  Broken ceramic tile


Information:  Invited to fill five bricked-in windows with cracked ceramic tile mosaics, CPAG artist Chris Silva utilized the imagination of Burr students to conjure a design for the wall. The artist held drawing sessions after school and during art classes with the school’s art teacher, Mindy Schwartz. Students were actively involved in the execution of the design and given the freedom to choose and place tiles themselves. Silva engaged the students in all aspects of the project and strove to encourage “a greater understanding of color, shape and value, and the importance of the placement of these elements in order to achieve a greater graphic effect.”