UP-Start Grantee Spotlight: Meryl Weber of Hop, Skip and a Jump
*Hop, Skip and a Jump will be at the Charleston Farmers Market on Saturday, May 17 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.! Come help us build another mosaic hopscotch board for the upper peninsula*
Meet Meryl Weber of Hop, Skip and a Jump, one of the first recipients of our our Community Project Grants program!
Through a series of community events, Weber will work with volunteers to create two mosaic hopscotch boards for the upper peninsula, transforming public spaces into artistic play-spaces. Hop, Skip and a Jump debuted at our March 22 Pop-up in the Park.
“Hop, Skip and a Jump came from the desire to create public mosaic artworks and to work with folks in the community,” said Weber. “The idea of making a hopscotch board appealed to me because it is interactive, both adults and children can play on it, and it encourages physical activity.
Weber has been an arts educator for her entire life, teaching for 15 years and serving as the Visual Arts Coordinator for Berkeley County School District for 18 years. Currently, Weber is a visiting artist with Engaging Creative Minds and has completed mosaic residencies in many local schools.
Growing up in Miami, her mother taught her the art of making mosaics and she has been hooked on the idea ever since. Weber has traveled all over the world to view extraordinary mosaics sites such as Gaudi in Barcelona, Jose Fuster’s house in Cuba and the Watts Towers in Los Angeles, but it was not until she took a class with Isaiah Zagar at the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia that she decided to create large scale murals.
“The size of the murals and the inclusion of glittering mirror gives the murals a magical feel,” says Weber. “I like to include all different objects in my mosaics, from photographs to Scrabble letters to ceramic figurines, so each piece becomes a story.”
Enough Pie is excited to work with Weber and her team Keep an eye out for more Hop, Skip and a Jump events this spring!
Do you have an idea for where the completed hopscotch boards can be installed? Drop us a line at grants@enoughpie.org.