Mosaic Workshops

Philadelphia's Magic Gardens offers monthly workshops with the artist himself, Isaiah Zagar. Isaiah teaches two full days of breaking tile, cutting mirror, gluing tile and grouting. Over a weekend, students work on a mosaic mural from conception to completion.

Cost for attending a Mosaic Mural workshop:
$300 for new students $50 for alumni. This includes all materials.

2010 Workshop Schedule: March 20-21, March 29-30 (special pre-NCECA workshop), April 24-25, May 29-30, June 26-27, July 24-25, September 4-5, September 25-26 and October 23-24.

Workshops take place over an entire weekend, from 9AM to 4PM rain or shine. Participants meet at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, located at 1020 South St. Philadelphia, PA 19147. Parking is available across the street at SuperFresh. On Sundays, street parking is available.

For workshop participants, comfortable work clothing and a bottle of water is recommended. Please bring an apron. There are many nearby places to buy lunch or you may bring one.

To learn the whole process from the comfort of your own home, buy PMG's instructional video here.

PMG is always looking for blank public walls in the South Street neighborhood to become canvases for these workshops. If you've always dreamed of having a Zagar mosaic mural on one of your public walls, please email info@philadelphiasmagicgardens.org or call 215-733-0390.

Walls must be:

Accessible to the public
Not in danger of being destroyed
Made of masonry (cinder blocks, bricks, stucco), not wood
No further than a 1/2 mile from PMG

Workshop participants and Zagar must have access to a bathroom. Murals built during a workshop are of no cost to the owner of the property, although donations are appreciated. The mural will be designed by Isaiah Zagar, and executed by Isaiah and his students on a Saturday and Sunday.

Quotations from Previous Workshop Participants

"Isaiah was just great - an enthusiastic teacher and wonderful storyteller. I have admired his murals for many years and was glad I could finally attend one of his workshops."
-Liz Helling, June 2006, Sartain St.

"As a non-artist, it was powerful to learn that the creation of a work of art can be organic. I learned that I don't have to conceptualize the entire piece before working on it, but can pull tile from buckets without intentionally choosing each piece to create something cohesive at the end."
-Kate Douglas, July 2008, 10th and Montrose St.

"My husband and I had such a great experience with Isaiah. We have both done murals at our schools since the workshop. I did a mural with my students and they loved it!"
-Merenda Woodward, July 2007, Medina St.