Annette Hochstein is a mosaic artist and has led many community mosaic projects. This piece was the earliest. It was created during the summer of 2004, Funded by Art of the Lakes, with partial funding provided by the Minnesota Rural Arts Initiative.

More than 20 years ago, I joined the Board of Directors at Art of the Lakes in Battle Lake. We were discussing the idea of a public art project. Art of the Lakes always tries to involve the community in participation, so we were enthusiastic about the idea. I suggested possibly doing a mosaic of some sort. The others on the board thought about it for a minute and said “Wonderful! You do it!!”

I panicked a bit, because I didn’t have any experience at the time with community projects… or mosaics for that matter! I had made a mosaic covered tissue box previously, but I’m not sure if that actually qualified me for this!

Still, I was excited about the prospect, so I went home and designed a large mosaic of a heron so I could get some practice! After successfully finishing that, I felt I knew enough to take on this mural.

I drew this design as a cheerful representation of the four seasons in Minnesota, with each figure representing one season.

Numerous members of the community worked with me on this sizable mosaic in our garage. My husband, Richard Hochstein, built the steel frame that it’s in. We had fun working with the colorful ceramics, glass and stone, including a bit of beautiful blown glass from John Oleson’s glass studio, which the fish is made of. Cutting and arranging the pieces was enjoyable…. but adhering them to the substrate with thinset cement tested everyone’s patience!

Yet we persevered!

After we grouted and finished, a group of strong people carried it from the supports it was on, to a trailer for travel to town. They hung it with the help of a forklift.

Over the years, sunlight has caused the colors to fade, but it is still a cheerful part of the public art in Battle Lake!