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Artist, students make bond through mosaic

Tribune photo by KATHY MOORE

Sheehy Elementary students Amariyya Williams, 9, left, and Iyania Glanton, 9. watch a s Carrollwood artist David Khalil hands out pieces of mosaic tile.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 1, 2009

TAMPA - David Khalil started the class period with a hodgepodge of tiles and ended it with a mosaic wall-hanging that spelled out "Love."

Third-graders at Sheehy Elementary surrounded the artist as he trimmed tiles and took turns spreading adhesive on the backs and mounting them on a wooden backing. They had to be careful, 9-year-old Jaquez Cantave said, and not put too much or too little adhesive on the tile.

"Then you got to find a place," Jaquez said. "If it can't fit, he cuts them."

Khalil, a Carrollwood-based mosaic artist, visited Sheehy as a guest teacher today, part of a program to get disabled students involved in the arts. The Sheehy students had learning, behavioral or emotional disabilities; other schools involved students who had physical disabilities.

Known as Hand 'n Hand, the program sets up an artist in residence in a classroom for seven sessions to work with children on individual projects. A second artist, one who deals with a disability, comes twice to collaborate with students on a piece.

The artwork they create will be displayed in the Hillsborough Hand 'n Hand exhibition from 4 to 6 p.m. April 22 at the Carrollwood Cultural Center, 4537 Lowell Road.

Students from Ballast Point, Corr, Dover, Hammond, Pizzo and Sheehy elementary schools and the Mendez Center are participating.

The Sheehy children have been creating storybooks with sculptor Sangoyemi Ogunsanya and met Khalil for the mosaic project. Khalil, 71, is hearing impaired and has loved art his entire life. He draws, paints and takes photographs, but mosaics are special to him.

"I like challenges," Khalil said. "It's not easy, but it's so sophisticated. In the mosaic, any mistake – you lose the whole piece."

The Visual Strength Artistic Expression of Florida, which provides artistic opportunities to disabled children and adults, brought the project to the Hillsborough County School District for the first time this year.

The types of art varied with the students' abilities and the artists' specialties, said Holly Eckstein, administrator with the district's Exceptional Student Education program. A class with children who have physical disabilities might avoid projects that require fine motor skills, for example.

The program also helps art teachers learn new techniques to work with students, Eckstein said.
Sheehy art teacher Margaret Vlasits said she liked the chance her students had to see professional artists at work.

"This is just a wonderful enrichment for them," Vlasits said. "We don't get to see artists working and to have them participate is a wonderful gift."

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503.

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