Since ancient times, artists have decorated buildings with mosaics -- pictures or designs made from small, colorful pieces of stone, glass or tile set in mortar. That tradition lives on in a community art project that has transformed the appearance of the American Visionary Art Museum at 800 Key Highway in south Baltimore. For more than five years, museum staffers have been working with students from Baltimore's Digital Harbor High School and others to create glittering panels that now cover much of the building's exterior, creating the largest outdoor mosaic of its kind in Maryland.

The museum will mark the completion of that endeavor during a "Community Mosaic Wall Project Celebration" starting at noon on Saturday, May 19. The idea is to recognize everyone who made the mosaic project a reality, including the artists; their mentors; the museum's architects; individuals and companies that donated the broken china, glass, and mirror used to create the mosaic panels; and local, state and federal officials who helped pay for it.

In many ways, the mosaic wall project is an ideal expression for a museum that showcases creations of self-taught individuals who work outside the mainstream -- and have a gift for transforming found objects into works of art.