Matthew Duffy’s artwork “Mutual Understanding, Mutual Respect” being installed at Reston, VA’s new North County Government Center. Photo: Lizzie Temme Duffy
Sculptor Matthew Duffy‘s new public artwork installed at Reston’s new North County Government Center is featured in a recent Fairfax CountyTimes article. The sculpture—two, sleek, stainless steel fretwork hands reaching for each other – was made at his studio in next door Otis Street Arts Project over the past year. Titled “Mutual Understanding, Mutual Respect, the artist M.L. Duffy describes the work as based on “the idea of mutual respect in these difficult times”.
M.L. Duffy installing the public art sculpture in February. Photo by Janet Rems / Fairfax County Times
M.L. Duffy worked on a number of Washington Glass Studio public art projects – most notably the Bethesda, MD Safeway supermarket façade, where he later described the process deconstructed down to the hours of physical labor: “3 Bays: 7 Months, 340+ pieces of glass, 2,125 chops on the tile saw, 120 hours on the belt-sander and diamond grinder, 1 full box of silicone, 48 frames, 2 cans of paint, 300 re-filed squares, 17 castings, and a whole-lotta trying to keep track of everything.”
Also a fine arts teacher at the Jesuit Gonzaga College High School in Washington, DC, Matthew hired a group of top art and stage crew students to work with him during the sculpture’s preliminary stages.
Congrats Matthew on the success of the new public artwork!
ML Duffy reviews the Safeway glass panels cast from recycled glass with WGS Co-Director Erwin Timmers.