LOCALadk Magazine

30 Spring 2020 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk PiEce PiEce BY BY Anne Brewer North Creek is home to one of the largest pieces of com- munity art in the North Countr y. Artist Kate Hartley has been working on creating a beautiful and detailed mosaic art in- stallation on a 40 -year-old retaining wall in the middle of town. The North Creek Mosaic Project was started just over nine years ago and is on track to be finished during its 10th anniversar y year. The wall when completed will span 180 feet long and in spots reach 11 feet high. This wall is a true com- munity project in that Kate invites and wants people to help. To date, almost 2000 people have contributed in some way, including children, teens and adults. The overall theme of the wall captures some of the best aspects of the Adirondacks through nature and how we en- joy the Park's recreational opportunities. Wildlife can also be found hiding throughout the wall. Fish splash in cold streams, heron hunt along the banks of a river, butterflies fly through the forest and a bear lopes through the trees. The project has actually published a book, North Creek Mosaic Project Wildlife Guide, that describes more than 50 animals native to the Adirondacks and who also "live" on the wall. A fox who is depicted running down one of the steps between the wall sections was inspired by an actual fox that would often be seen running down the same stair way. Making a connection to the wall is easy for most, as the scenes var y to show peo- ple fishing, skiing, boating, biking and camping. The wall is in four panels. The final section is 55 feet long and depicts a lake scene. Throughout the winter on Thurs- days Kate created an "open studio" workshop free of charge for people to come in and help work on the wall. The vol- unteers create their part of the picture and Kate helps com- plete it by filling in the background area with swirls of tile and glass. When the wall warms up to 50 degrees Kate and her volunteers will be back outside attaching all the pieces assembled during the winter months. I decided the best way to really understand this project was to attend the open studio. Meeting Kate was like meeting an old friend. She greeted me with a huge smile that never left throughout the night and her passion and joy for this proj- ect was infectious. With no knowledge of what my artistic abilities were she asked what I wanted to make for the wall. I picked a dragonfly to keep things simple and Kate proceeded to teach me the steps: draw, trace, cut glass, lay out and glue. The work it took me to make a simple dragonfly quickly made me realize the enormity of the detail and thought that goes

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