Many Communities, One Commonwealth

Many Communities, One Commonwealth is a large-scale collage created for the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA) as part of the America 250 celebration. The piece brings together approximately 200 individual works of K–12 student artwork from across Pennsylvania, carefully collaged and arranged to form the shape of the Commonwealth.

Rather than simply displaying the artwork side by side, I transformed each student piece into part of a larger composition. Colors, shapes, textures, and details from each artwork were layered and positioned together to create the recognizable outline of Pennsylvania. Every individual piece remains a unique expression of a student artist, while contributing to something larger as part of the finished collage.

It was unveiled at the state capitol in Harrisburg, where I got to meet and speak with Governor Josh Shapiro about the project, as well as many of the students whose work I collaged.