Mosaic Capturing People's Favorite Memories Of Ellicott City On Display At Gallery

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Now through May 28, people can view the mosaic on display at the Howard County Center for the Arts gallery during the annual resident visual artist exhibit. Created by Lisa M. Scarbath, the piece consists of six individual pieces hung together measuring 95 inches wide and 60 inches tall.

To create the piece, Scarbath requested residents give her small items that represent Ellicott City to them to use as tesserae for the mosaic, items like pebbles, a broken dish, a piece of glass or a trinket. She ended up receiving more than 80 pieces with stories, which can be read on her website, Scarbath told Patch.

"For example, a pebble from the driveway where they've lived in Ellicott City, a piece of a broken dish that reminds them of a special occasion celebrated in Ellicott City, a key or screw from a building where they've worked in Ellicott City or a trinket from a visit to Old Ellicott City," she said.

The gallery will be open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. There will be a reception for the community Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. EC250.org also will be hosting an artist talk and reception May 19.

"Right now, I don’t have any plans for the project after the exhibit, and it does not yet have a permanent home, but I’m hoping plans will be made while it is on display," she said.

As owner of Pieceful Designs Mosaics and a resident of Ellicott City, Scarbath wanted to find a way to "acknowledge the tragedy of the floods" in past years while recognizing the historic 250th anniversary milestone through this piece of art. She's been creating mosaics for 3.5 years and before that, she worked with traditional stained glass. At first, she was a lawyer then a professor, but has been working full time as an artist for a couple of years now. Her favorite medium is mosaic followed by sculpture, she told Patch.

"(Last) February, I attended the Society of American Mosaic Artist conference and learned about a mosaic artist who brought together materials from all over the world for a single work and about others who provided hope and healing to their neighbors creating local mosaic murals. My project combines those ideas and invites the community to tell their stories by sending in bits of their own Ellicott City history to be included in the mosaic," she said.