Susan Gardner started "gluing things" to the front of her Cobble Hill home as a therapeutic exercise after 9/11. She has since transformed her home at 108 Wyckoff Street into the much admired mosaic mecca of the neighborhood, a "celebratory statement that would cheer and amuse" passersby and locals alike. It is a community arts project with a take-a-penny leave-a-penny ethos—only instead of pennies, there are colorful trinkets, shiny beads, discarded DVDs, and anti-Trump signage.
It's impossible to miss Gardner's glittering home. Plenty of people put up impressive and edgy displays for Halloween and Christmas—but Gardner's home is a year-round celebration. "The neighborhood has embraced and encouraged the project," she wrote on her website. "The joy of sharing it with strangers has made me very happy. The materials include shells, beads, buttons, jewelry, tiles, mirrors, broken cups/dishes and much more."
Now with the 15 year anniversary of her project (and September 11th) upon us, we visited the Mosaic House to get a closer look at the display. Check out those photos above, and a short video profile of Gardner below.
NYorkers // Susan Gardner from NYorkers on Vimeo.
[h/t CBS New York]
