Mosaic artist working on ‘ruins’ project
SEP 22 2017
By Dave Zuchowski (Observer-Reporter)
Rachel Sager may have majored in English and art history at West Virginia Wesleyan University in Buckhannon, but her career took an abrupt detour when she answered an unrelated ad for employment.
Accepted for the position of grouter at a mosaic studio, the Belle Vernon native “fell in love with the art form” she claims is now experiencing a critical renaissance.
Although Sager, 46, took on many different jobs to support herself through the years, she’s always found time to create mosaic art. Seven years ago, she chucked the alternate employment option and went full time into mosaics. In January 2015, she took a another giant career step when she bought 11 acres in Whitsett, Westmoreland County, the site of the now defunct Banning No. 2 Mine.
The mosaic artist now lives in the original mine office, which she’s refitting to serve as a comfortable, cozy domicile close to the Great Allegheny Passage Trail and the Youghiogheny River. Her equally eye-catching studio, which she built a year-and-a-half ago, is just a stone’s throw away from her home.