Bringing Mosaic Art to The Hill

Long before moving into The Hill at Whitemarsh in 2024, Allison Lit discovered a hidden talent: mosaic art.

“I was in my mid-30s, living in Haverford, raising children and I decided to sign up for a class at an art center on the Main Line near my home,” said Allison. “I loved it! I continued going back and spent over 10 years working with my teacher and showing my art at conventions all over the country.”

Although she had no formal training as a mosaic artist prior to taking that first class, Allison had studied art at Moore College of Art and Design, so it felt natural to pursue this new medium– both because she loved the creative outlet and because she felt confident about not having an art background thanks to the transparency of her teacher’s own experience.

“My teacher had been a police officer before following her dream of becoming an artist,” said Allison. “It’s easy to be intimidated by creativity, but having someone there to guide you through the process makes it a whole lot easier.”

This past summer, Allison became that person for other residents at The Hill. For four to five weeks in a row, Allison would take over the Art Studio to teach mosaic art to anyone willing to learn. And she continues to run these mini-courses thanks to the continued interest in this kind of creative outlet.

“ Most participants have never pursued a creative activity, but I give them options to choose from and let them take it from there. Everyone says they have no talent and no idea what they’re doing, but I reassure them that there’s no wrong way to approach an art project, and they always come up with such interesting ideas!” – Allison Lit

The medium is mostly costume jewelry, glass, and tiles that Allison herself has cut up into smaller pieces so that her art “students” can easily affix them to an object of their choosing, which usually consists of tissue boxes, picture frames, and keepsake or memorabilia boxes.

While Allison also started her creative process in this way, over the years her canvas expanded to much larger spaces.

“I had taken a class with a famous Philadelphia mosaic artist and really loved it,” she said. “We were working on exterior walls of buildings downtown.”

Eventually, Allison started taking commissions from friends and family–even doing elaborate centerpieces for her daughter’s wedding, most of which were sent to galleries and retail shops after the big day.

“That was how a lot of other customers found me,” said Allison. “I got requests to mosaic all sorts of things for people, including a lot of guitars. Since moving to The Hill, I’ve only taken a few smaller commissions, but I don’t mind because The Hill has proven to be such a creative community. There are so many other artists here, my creativity is in good company.”

Allison mentioned the idea of being limited by your imagination and laughed, saying, “my imagination never stops! I didn’t expect to take one class all those years ago and turn it into so much of my life for decades afterwards. Art has given me so much.”