What is that?

If you know, let us know. Send your responses to [email protected] or phone (631) 749-1000, extension 354.

Last week’s mystery photo (see below) is of the stunning mosaic in the lobby floor of the Shelter Island School. Some students recognized the beautiful art work and let us know.

Tom Speeches, Shelter Island High School Class of 1977, called in with the correct answer, and two of our younger readers, William Marshall and David Klenawicus, were right on the money. Also quick to identify the mosaic and its location were Marijane Card and Georgiana Ketcham.

The artist who created the mosaic is Stephanie Sareyani, the school’s art teacher. Ms. Sareyani told the Reporter that eight years ago, then-Superintendent Michael Hynes asked if she could create and install a mosaic. The Board of Education accepted her design and she “set up a station in my art room where, as I worked on the mosaic, students could participate,” Ms. Sareyani said.

The mosaic was completed in two months, but “the hardest part of the project was the installation, which was left to Mike Dunning and his crew,” she said. “They grouted the mosaic and installed it in the lobby floor during one of our spring vacations. As with many projects, no mention was made of their hard work behind the scenes.”

Ms. Sareyani said the central part of the design is Shelter Island surrounded by clean, blue water, and the four surrounding motifs highlight our heritage.

“One is of the ferries which keep us in a safe distance from a fast moving world,” the teacher said. “One is of the Indians who originally settled and lived here, and another is a scallop shell, which provided our families with food and livelihoods.”

And finally, an osprey nest that “encourages these wonderful fish hawks, once endangered, to rest and thrive in safety,” she said.

Ms. Sareyani noted that the beauty embedded in the lobby floor is never taken for granted. “Each time I pass it,” she added, “I am proud because we created a collaborative art piece for all to enjoy.”