Marble Player and Litte Fairolyn

marble player, originally uploaded by Summer Kitchen Studio.

This bottom left corner of the mosaic is the memory section. When Fairolyn told the kids about the history of the Hannibal Square neighborhood, the story about the election of the Aldermen in 1887 stood out. But the kids and I were also taken by her tales of childhood in Hannibal Square. She told about kids playing marbles, and about how she and her friends would make dolls from old bottles, putting grass in the top like hair, and using it to learn to braid. So we designed part of the mosaic to be the "Memory" section, with children playing old-time games. The girl in blue is young Fairolyn, playing with her bottle doll, a basket by her side. The little boy, who is unique in the mosaic with his stained-glass face (all of the others are hand-made tiles) was designed by one of the boys in Ginny Howard's art class. He was excited to hear that his figure was featured so prominently.