Club Creates 'Symbol Of Healing' With Mosaic At Northbrook Junior High

NORTHBROOK, IL — A new mosaic, created by the Northbrook Junior High School Community Art Club, now adorns a hallway at the school. The mosaic was created by over 30 students, according to Northbrook District 28.

Located in the hallway that connects the main lobby to the gym the mosaic is the product of a pilot program aimed at providing healing and community connection after two years of schooling during the pandemic. The club provided an opportunity for students and staff to work side by side in an after-school setting.

According to the district, the idea was to create art as a "non-clinical experience to promote empathy, love, connection, health and rebuild a sense of community in a post-COVID year."

Parent Joe Lombardo came up with the concept to join students and staff based on his own family's experience with the Brushes With Cancer project. Brushes With Cancer is a core program of the non-profit Twist Out Cancer, which provides psychosocial support for cancer survivors and their loved ones. District 28 noted Lombardo is married to Grace Lombardo, who works as an instructional assistant at Greenbriar School, and recently faced a second diagnosis of cancer. The couple's older children attend NBJH.

After brainstorming with Twist Out Cancer's founder, Jenna Benn Shersher, Lombardo helped secure funding from Twist Out Cancer for art therapist to work alongside NBJH Art Teacher Mark Hay to develop the six-week curriculum

"We saw this as an opportunity to bring together teachers and students for this year as a reset, a healing opportunity," Hay said in a news release. "We really liked the concept of teachers and students working side by side to connect in different ways than they usually do in a classroom."

Students and staff met up for one hour each week to work on the mosaic. The district said the mosaic is modeled after the work of Romero Britto. Each group member worked on different pieces over two weeks, adding their own marks and colors over others to produce a rich, layered piece.

In connection with Twist Out Cancer, a digital copy of the mosaic is on display during the month of November at the WNDR Museum in Chicago in conjunction with an art exhibit and celebration for Brushes with Cancer Midwest 2022.