Mosaic From Now-shuttered Restaurant Gets New Home At Philadelphia High School
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The 40-foot abstract mosaic was the focal point of the SoleFood restaurant at the Loews Hotel.
Nancy Frank of the Mosaic Society of Philadelphia took note.
"I would eat in the restaurant, I would see this gorgeous thing. I'd be staring at it, thinking to myself, 'My God, there's so much work that went into that,'" she recalls.
But when the hotel closed the restaurant last November, the mosaic, which was designed by local artist Richard Watson and composed of a million small tiles, was destined for the dumpster. Frank contacted the city, which helped to find it a home at the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
Fabricator Stephen Miotto has been at the school, reassembling the 12 panels.
"Most of the joints remained really intact. A couple of them got a little splintered, but I believe it was a day and a half, we had all the panels down," he says.
The hotel raised $6,000 to fund the move.
