Mosaic unveiled at St. Mary Cathedral School

~ Mosaic of patroness saint unveiled at St. Mary's Cathedral School

Working mostly nights and weekends, it took local artist, Cece Boos, almost a year and a half to complete the six-by-seven foot mosaic that now hangs in the lobby of St. Mary's Cathedral School in Cape Girardeau.

"I have a full-time day job as an interior designer," Boos said. "So, nights and weekends are when I was able to work on it."

The large mosaic is made from pieces of glass tile and depicts the image of St. Mary, who is the patroness of the school and parish.

"It is a treasure," said Carol Strattman, principal of St. Mary's Cathedral School. "It is a masterpiece and we are absolutely thrilled with it."

The idea for the mosaic started with a drawing that Boos enlarged.

"The school's principal approached me about doing the project, as she knew I did artwork and that I have done mosaics on a smaller scale," Boos said.

She cut many tiles of various colors with a hand held glass cutter.

"All of the glass pieces were cut by hand," Boos said. "For the lettering, I used a glass grinder to cut those."

Boos glued the multi-colored tiles to three separate panels.

"I then had to patch in tiles when the panels met so it would all look like one piece," she said.

The mosaic was then grouted and surrounded by a marble pencil line frame and a wooden frame. Boos' husband, John, is an artist and a carpenter, so he did the framing.

In addition to her interior design business, Boos does china painting and stained glass.

"I also have a small creative tile design business that I run out of our home," Boos said.

Being an artist runs in the family for Boos.

"Both my mother and grandmother were artists," she said. "I majored in interior design in college and minored in art."

Boos said it was a very fulfilling feeling to see her work of art hung in the school lobby.

"All four of our children went to [elementary] school at St. Mary's," she said.

Her youngest son is currently in the 8th grade at the school.

"It is a wonderful school and the principal was wonderful to work with. She didn't rush me," Boos said, referring to the length of time it took to get the project completed.

A ceremony was held March 18 to unveil the mosaic.

"After morning Mass, we all came from the church to the school," said Father Tom Kiefer, pastor at St. Mary's Cathedral. "The whole grade school was in attendance. Bishop Johnston said a prayer before the [artwork] was unveiled, and then he did a blessing of the mosaic."

When asked his opinion of the mosaic, Kiefer said it is "wonderful. It turned out very well and I can tell [the artist] prayerfully worked on it."

Strattman shares Kiefer's enthusiasm for the mosaic.

"It is a very inspirational piece," she said. "What's great is that I noticed today when the kids were going out to recess, they would stop in small groups and admire the mosaic."

Pertinent address:

210 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.