FORT GREENE — More than 100 pounds of broken glass dating back decades will be transformed into a mosaic "map" of Fort Greene Park featuring drawings by residents and visitors.
Artist and UrbanGlass instructor Amanda Patenaude, in partnership with the Fort Greene Park Conservancy, will install the mosaic this fall after a series of community workshops at which residents can submit drawings that will go on each of the individual shards.
So far, the drawings capture the varied scenes found at the park — from sketches of leaves and trees to pictures of weddings and birthday parties and even Patenaude’s own drawings of the Prison Ship Martyr’s Monument and park designer Frederick Law Olmsted.
“This is going to be part of a larger piece, so you can come back and find the piece that you’ve made,” Patenaude said.
“I’m really excited to keep that connection where people have a little bit of ownership over the mosaic so people feel that it’s theirs too.”
The glass, which currently fills between 10 and 20 gallons of plastic containers, has its own historic roots in the park.
The shards were collected through the park’s “glass patrol” initiative, started by park director David Barker. Groups of volunteers have been collecting the glass, which was buried in the park’s soil, for the last year and a half.
Park officials say some of the glass dates back as far as the 1930s.
“The theory is that a lot of it is sea glass from the days when the park wasn’t as well cared for,” said Julian Macrone, the park’s program and development manager.
“We see it mostly when it rains. It’s usually erosion from stuff that’s embedded in the hillside. A lot of it’s historical.”
Once installed, the mosaic will live just south of the monument on a marble platform that once hosted a metal plaque given to the park by King Juan Carlos I to honor Spanish soldiers who died on British prison ships during the American Revolution.
The mosaic will be just one of the park’s current art installations, which include a sculpture garden by artist Juanlí Carrion featuring plants that represent the various nationalities of residents across the borough.
So far, the park and Patenaude have held two workshops at which community members of all ages have contributed their drawings for the mosaics.
The park will hold another workshop on July 9 at the Fort Greene Park Greenmarket between 12 and 3 p.m. at which community members can draw their own scenes from the park and share their ideas for the mosaic.
