Settlement House Roots

Settlement House Roots by Eric Okdeh and Michael Reali celebrates the Lutheran Settlement House, a 100+ year old cornerstone of the Fishtown community. The mural features portraits of its oldest long-standing residents, and the house’s programs and initiatives. The design began with interviews of the Lutheran Settlement House seniors. Many are lifelong Fishtown residents who grew up with, and were transformed by, the center.

The 600-square-foot mosaic is accented with highly detailed mosaic portraiture, arranged to lead the viewer’s eye across the piece and into the building. A prominent portrait features an older woman from the Lutheran Settlement House, who, within the past year, learned to read at the literacy program.

Artist Michael Reali led a mosaic-making class with youth at the St. Gabriel’s Hall residential program for court adjudicated delinquents. The students learned about working with glass using various tools, mosaic pattern making, and the local and global histories of mosaic. The class culminated with many personal mosaic pieces created by the students which could be sold during exhibits. The students also created patterns within leaf shapes for the larger mosaic mural. In addition, they participated in a two-semester art-based learning program. Teacher Jared Wood engaged students in designing personal mandalas, and two mandala murals were painted inside the St. Gabriel’s Hall school department.