Sea art in Nahant

NAHANT – Beach Sisters teamed up with the director of an art-based company to create a tile mosaic that will bring sick children together with children who want to help their peers.The mosaic was created over seven hours Thursday at the Northeastern University Marine Science Center.Though it hasn’t been decided where the mosaic will be hung, the intention is for it to go somewhere where sick children can actively participate in finishing the piece of art, according to Carole McCauley, the outreach program coordinator at MSC.”It’s a way to lift people’s spirits,” McCauley said.Girls Inc. of Lynn and MSC’s outreach program first came together in 2011 to create Beach Sisters, a six-week program that focuses on STEAM, or science, technology, engineering, art and math.Beach Sisters worked together with Stacey Wilson-McMahon, founder and director of Apatchworks, to create the marine-themed mosaic.Apatchworks is a nonprofit organization with a goal to create vibrant spaces in hospitals that might otherwise seem dreary or scary to children.The nonprofit’s name has a double meaning. It’s an acronym for Actively Providing Art To Children In Hospitals. Second, when you separate the words “a patch works,” it evokes the idea that a patch or bandage can help someone in need.Creating the mosaic, which was built using donated Bisazza tiles from Italy, was a way to bring together “children with cancer, children who are in need and children who want to help other children,” Wilson-McMahon said.The intricate design that the girls created Thursday using close to 10,000 tiles will serve as a backdrop to the finished masterpiece, she said. Children who are in the hospital will be able to polish off the seascape by attaching sea animals.”We wanted to create an art form that would be permanent and actively allow children to participate,” Wilson-McMahon said.Girls Inc. Executive Director Deb Ansourlian said there was a lot the girls were able to take away from the experience.”It’s a community project, and they’re learning about the environment,” she said. “There’s a lot of teamwork going on. They learned how to do it, and then the adults came in later in the afternoon, and they taught the adults how to do it.”Participants said they enjoyed the mosaic-building process.”I’m really happy I did it,” said Alexandria Hernandez, 14. “I like seeing everyone come in and come together and work together to do this for the children in the hospital.””I like how it calms us down and gets us focused,” said Michaela Brunet, 14, “and we get to know each other while making art.”About 1,500 children a year are involved with Girls Inc., and about 100 of them are part of Beach Sisters, said Ansourlian.Beach Sisters and Apatchworks plan to team up again next summer to continue working on panels that will be added to the mosaic.