If you leave empty space in your stadium, the art teachers will come. That's the lesson learned at Exeter High School in Reading, Pa., where far-thinking district administrators saved room on the walls of Don Thomas Stadium when renovations began in 2003.

Today, three mosaics of Exeter athletes greet fans at the entrance, and more are in the works. The mosaics are based on photographs of Exeter students that have been converted by a computer program called Tile Creator Pro. Each is eight feet tall and contains about 18,000 colored glass tiles.

"Incorporating the arts into this renovation makes our stadium unique," says Kimberly Lopez, Exeter Junior High School Art Teacher and one of the mosaic project's two faculty advisors, explaining that the current mosaics show past and present student-athletes from the field hockey, football, and soccer teams. When completed, the additional mosaics will represent all eight varsity sports played in Don Thomas Stadium, plus band and cheerleading.

With the hands-on labor of art students, student-athletes, parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members, it takes about 20 hours to assemble the tiles on a series of grids and another four hours to install a mosaic on the stadium wall. Materials for each cost the school district approximately $1,000. Other expenses, including the lights above each mural, are paid for by the booster club.

"I've never seen a group of student-athletes get so excited about an art project," says Michele Miskovitz, co-advisor on the project. "And it has been a great way to bring athletes and art students together. Too often, kids think they have to be one or the other, but this project has provided a way to connect art and sports. It gets all kinds of people working together, and once the mosaics are up, our students are amazed to see what they've accomplished."

For a slideshow of the mosaic-making process at Exeter, go to:
http://readingeagle.com/ article.aspx?id=92554.