# Whitesburg mosaic transforms broken treasures into community healing **Published:** 2026-08-24T00:22:10.973Z **Source:** [Public News Service - Kentucky](https://app.publicnewsservice.org/story/new-public-art-commemorates-eastern-kentucky-foods-1/a5488ae4-0615-4dcf-9da7-f37d8c57ba74) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/whitesburg-mosaic-transforms-broken-treasures-into-community-healing WHITESBURG, Ky. — Four years after a devastating flood swept through eastern Kentucky, artist Lacy Hale is teaching her community to find meaning in broken pieces. Behind the historic post office on Main Street, Hale has created a sprawling public mosaic that draws together shattered pottery, donated jewelry, river glass and deeply personal mementos from residents of Whitesburg and Letcher County. The artwork, [created for the Cowan Community Action Group's annual Growing Home event](https://app.publicnewsservice.org/story/new-public-art-commemorates-eastern-kentucky-foods-1/a5488ae4-0615-4dcf-9da7-f37d8c57ba74), celebrates the region's streams and native wildlife while serving as a physical archive of the community's flood experience. "It's been a way for me, too, to learn about people in the community that I might not have been able to meet before," said Hale, a nationally recognized painter and muralist who lost her studio and works in progress during the [July 2022 flooding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Appalachian_floods). The mosaic features regional flora including Joe Pye weed, black-eyed Susans and morels, alongside fauna such as kingfishers, herons and dragonflies. But its power lies in the stories embedded in each fragment. The artwork includes pieces of a mug that belonged to Hale's late father, shards from broken dishware of residents who lost homes, and an RC Cola bottle from a family whose father had collected thousands of bottles over decades. [The July 2022 flood was described as a thousand-year event](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Appalachian_floods), dumping up to 10.4 inches of rain and devastating communities across southeastern Kentucky. [Letcher County was among the hardest hit, with 74 percent of flood damage occurring in just four counties](https://www.clevelandfed.org/publications/cd-reports/2023/20230927-resilience-and-recovery), leaving residents to navigate recovery without adequate insurance or resources. Lee Burke of McRoberts watched helplessly as floodwaters swept away his late father's prized collection of RC Cola memorabilia. The building that housed 100 wooden crates and thousands of bottles—treasures his father had gathered since childhood—was carried away in the torrent. In subsequent weeks, Burke recovered a handful of pieces, including one broken bottle still bearing the RC logo. He donated it to Hale's project. "It makes me kind of want to cry now," Hale said. "It was just so touching that a piece from his father…he would trust us to use and break and put in this big wall." Hale and her intern, Julian Holt, placed the bottle prominently in the mosaic's blue heron, ensuring Burke's father's legacy would remain visible in the finished work. This was Hale's first attempt at mosaic art. She taught herself the technique through YouTube research, discovering she could incorporate not just traditional tile and pottery, but jewelry, rocks and river glass. When she learned that community donations were possible, it sparked an idea rooted in her own grief—a broken mug she couldn't discard after her father's death in 2008. "From that it kind of grew into, 'Wouldn't it be cool to ask people in the community to bring their own broken treasures,'" she said. The response was overwhelming. Residents donated pieces of pottery that once belonged to loved ones, old jewelry with sentimental value, and river glass recovered after the flooding. Beyond objects, people shared their stories, transforming the wall into what Hale describes as a community archive. For Letcher County residents still navigating the long road to recovery, the mosaic offers something tangible: a permanent reminder of their resilience and a place where grief can be transformed into beauty. ## Sources - [Public News Service - Kentucky](https://app.publicnewsservice.org/story/new-public-art-commemorates-eastern-kentucky-foods-1/a5488ae4-0615-4dcf-9da7-f37d8c57ba74) - [Wikipedia entry on the 2022 Appalachian floods](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Appalachian_floods) - [Federal Reserve analysis of the 2022 Eastern Kentucky flood impacts](https://www.clevelandfed.org/publications/cd-reports/2023/20230927-resilience-and-recovery) - [The Daily Yonder article on the Whitesburg mosaic](https://dailyyonder.com/a-new-public-mosaic-in-whitesburg-kentucky-commemorates-the-flood-of-2022-while-serving-as-a-community-archive/2026/07/27/) - [WYMT news coverage of the mosaic project](https://www.wymt.com/2026/08/18/artist-picks-up-broken-pieces-celebrates-community-resilience-with-mosaic-mural/) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from Public News Service - Kentucky, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://app.publicnewsservice.org/story/new-public-art-commemorates-eastern-kentucky-foods-1/a5488ae4-0615-4dcf-9da7-f37d8c57ba74.