WEYMOUTH – The Seach Primary School students had a simple task: create self-portraits that portray the characteristics that make each of them special and unique.

 Results included a ballerina who also loves to cook holding a frying pan, a boy standing on a stepping stool to paint on an easel and a hockey goalie wearing a Weymouth jersey.

Artist David Fichter was then  supposed to combine the portraits into a mural to reflect the characteristics that make the school was it is.

"They wanted something on the outside that reflected back the fact that they're one of the more diverse schools in Weymouth, and they wanted to celebrate that and have it be something they could be proud of," Fichter said.

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What resulted are two large mosaic murals made of glass tiles now on display on the exterior of the Seach School. 

The recent unveiling marked the completion of an artist-in-residency program with Fichter, which took place over several months and involved all students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

The school funded the project through a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Seach Parent Council.

Children worked with Fichter to design and create the mosaic, which reflects the school's diversity and inclusivity. He first visited the school to discuss the process from planning to implementation, and figured out how students would contribute a single idea to a collaborative piece of work.

During their art classes, students sketched portraits that represented themselves and the Seach community. Fichter then took all the portraits and fit many of them together to create a cohesive mural.

He used the gazebo at Whitman's Pond as the backdrop, and then added in students, animals and other details to create a full scene. 

"I look for overarching imaging to connect everything, and one teacher suggested the pond and the gazebo as a place everyone could identify, and it provided an opportunity to tie in wildlife and things they appreciated about the pond," he said. 

The second mural shows a large dinosaur that one student sketched, with self-portraits of other students riding on its back. 

Fichter enlarged the drawings to full scale and used foam panels as templates for students to begin cutting and placing the colored glass tiles to fill in the drawings and create the mosaic mural.

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On one weekend, families were invited to come in and work on the mural with their kids. Fichter and several volunteers then cemented the tiles onto cement board for the building department to secure to the outside of the school.

During the unveiling, Fichter said the students were excited to see the final product.

"It was nice to see them all go up and touch it for the first time," he said.

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Reach Jessica Trufant at jtrufant@patriotledger.com.