It took a while, as good art often does, for Archie to find his place.  He spent several months in a garage, slowly coming together with the friends who join him in this mosaic.  But, on Saturday, Archie found his permanent perch, all 8 feet – 8 inches of him.

“After two months of research, and finding what I wanted to do,” said artist Sharon Snyder, she began to piece together Archie, “The Fantastic Bird,” with the help of friends Edith Brady-Lunny and Edith’s husband Calvin.

The project took five months to complete during 2012 under the protection of the Lunny’s garage. 

“Edith brought over some tile one day and said, ‘Hey, I wanna do this coffee table’,” Snyder said.  “She knew that I knew how to tile.”

Snyder already had 20 years’ experience as a stained glass artist, so she understood how to cut and work with glass. 

Then came the idea for Archie.

“I also had tiled and learned some restoration skills,” she said.  “The flowers and leaves and other things are stained glass, but the bird is stone.”

• See the full story in the Friday, 11/20 print edition of the Clinton Journal or in the Journal E-Edition for subscribers.