Retired Mathews teacher creates community murals of Mona Lisa, 9/11 anniversary

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

After the success of the 2009 mosiac mural of the Mona Lisa, artist Susan Jacobs of Cortland has launched a second mosaic mural called “911 ... Never Forget.”

Jacobs, a retired art teacher for the Mathews school district, brought together area artists who each contributed one of 70 24-inch square canvases for the Mona Lisa project.

The canvases were eventually assembled into one mural, but each artist’s work also reflected his or her personal view of the community.

Jacobs engineered the Mona Lisa project by producing a drawing of the mural and sketching an outline on each canvas, she said. She provided each artist with three specially selected tubes of paint, depending on the part of the mural the person had.

The mosaic was the first project undertaken by Jacobs’ non-profit Community Artworks foundation.

This year, Jacobs decided to tackle a different type of mosaic mural — one focused on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.

“I wanted artists to search their memory and feelings to create a piece that pays tribute to the people who lost their lives on 9-11 and also to pays tribute to our nation for enduring the attacks,” Jacobs said.

Read the full story with mural photos Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com