Laurel Library’s Grand Opening Features Public Art Sculpture by Washington Glass Studio

玻璃艺术雕塑

Washington Glass Studio sculpture at the new Laurel Library. Photo by Pete Duvall.

The Washington Glass Studio (WGS) has recently completed installation of a community based site specific public art commission for Prince George’s County Laurel Library. The new building was designed by Grimm + Parker Architects, with the grand opening of the new library scheduled for November 28, 2016. Features of the spectacular new library include an inset floor area in the children’s section where kids will get to peer at a replica velociraptor skeleton through the glass floor. Just a few miles away from the library site is Dinosaur Park, where scientists work to excavate fossils from the early Cretaceous period. Dinosaur imagery was also included as a theme running through the glass artwork panels.

WGS design proposal sketch

WGS design proposal sketch.

WGS was awarded the commission to make the outdoor sculpture at the front of the new library by Maryland’s Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council (PGAHC). The Art in Public Places Program RFQ sought out artwork that would provide world class artwork for Prince George’’s County residents and visitors. 

WGS proposal for the project was a 17’H internally illuminated glass and steel sculpture that incorporates glass panels made by the community,residents and stakeholders of the Laurel, MD community. The engineering of the steel framework involved detailed analysis of the structure and its components. WGS worked with structural engineer Holbert Apple to ensure the integrity of the design.

Detailed analysis of sculpture was part of the design development process.

Detailed analysis of sculpture was part of the design development process.

Over 100 glass inset panels were made during the series of workshops held at the Washington Glass School. The Baltimore Sun newspaper featured a story by reporter Lisa Philip about the process. 

A series of community glass quilting bees were held at the Washington Glass School for the library during the summer.

A series of community glass quilting bees were held at the Washington Glass School for the library during the summer. Photo by Lisa Philip/Baltimore Sun

 

 

The artwork’s title “Involve Me and I Learn”  is based on a phrase attributed to US Founding Father Benjamin Franklin (who also opened the first US public library). The name references the engagement of the community. The neighborhood and the Laurel Library supporters had joined in making the individual glass panels in workshops at the Washington Glass School.Laurel_Library.artists.washington_glass_school.studio.sculpture.public_art.project.american.great.commission.site_specific.fused.jpg

The resulting variations in each tile’s imagery and technique embody the artist’s concept in bringing the people from the diverse community together to create a cohesive and vibrant sculpture. 

 

 

The artwork inset kiln-formed glass panels express the personality and the  individuality of everyone involved in the project.

The artwork’s internally illuminated kiln-formed glass panels express the personality and the individuality of everyone involved in the project. Photo by Pete Duvall

Project  Information

Artist: Washington Glass Studio 

Design Team: Laurie Brown, Michael Janis, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers, Audrey Wilson. With Josh Hershman and Pierre Browning.

Structural Engineer : Holbert Apple Assoc Inc 

玻璃艺术雕塑 WGS_Laurel Library.MD.aipp.washington_glass_studio.public_art.sculpture.site.specific.sustainable.design.usa.jpg

Photo by Pete Duvall

Laurel Library
507 7th Street, Laurel, MD 20707

Grand Opening / Dedication – 10:30 AM, Monday, November 28, 2016 – All are invited!

Glass Sheds Light On the New Year!


In honor of the regulations that phase out incandescent light bulbs starting in 2014, photographer Pete & Alison Duvall had a cast glass light fixture for their home in Silver Spring, MD. 
In 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law an energy bill that placed stringent efficiency requirements on ordinary incandescent bulbs in an attempt to have them completely eliminated by 2014. The law phased out 100-watt and 75-watt incandescent bulbs in 2013.

As artists that depend on light and its transmission, the photographers worked with artist Erwin Timmers to get every kind of light bulb they could referenced in their ceiling mounted glass artwork. 

Cast glass lightbulbs

 

Inspired by a commissioned ceiling mounted artwork that Michael Janis did in 2007 for a Washington, DC collector. The couple that commissioned the work had limited space in their apartment, and felt that the creating an artwork piece mounted on the that diffused light would be a crossover of art and function. In the earlier suspended artwork panel, faces look down from a textured surface. 
Pete Duvall noted that the light source for the new artwork piece is from energy efficient LED bulbs.

Original cast glass panel by Michael Janis – Photo by Pete Duvall.

American Craft on Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic Collaborations

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Sins Under Glass
The April/May issue of American Craft magazine has an 8 page review of Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic‘s collaborative work.

Tim Tate & Marc Petrovic
photo by Pete Duvall/Anything Photographic


The article, written by American Craft‘s Senior Editor, Julie Hanus; with photos by Pete Duvall of Anything Photographic, talks of “Connectivity and collaboration” and the ways they are molding our lives. The author profiles in-depth their two recent joint works
Apothecarium Moderne and Seven Deadly Sins, and how, within the two works, Marc and Tim are model­­ing one vision of the interconnected future of art: genuine collaboration.

Above: Two works from the Seven Deadly Sins series.


Shattered found pottery lends sculptural interest to
Wrath. For the finial, Marc made a tiny maple rolling pin on a lathe. Visually, I like the look of Envy a lot,” says Marc. They designed the piece around the video concept: a creepy eye, peering through a keyhole. Each piece is loaded with detail. The green finial that sits atop Envy, for example, is a cast-glass likeness of Michael Janis, a tongue-in-cheek poke at an artist with whom Tim shares workspace at the Washington Glass School (…or is it?). The tiny gate is Marc’s handiwork – a rare opportunity to exercise a long-ago minor in metals, he says. His wife, artist Kari Russell-Pool (with whom Marc also has collaborated), lent a hand with the grass.


Above: “Vanity” from the Seven Deadly Sins series
blown and cast glass, camera and audio soundwave electronics, found objects

In Vanity, a small video screen displays the image of all who approach. Peek into this technological mirror and a recorded voice gushes, “You look wonderful. Have you lost weight? You look younger every time I see you.”
Drawing in viewers to interact with the work is, arguably, the pièce de résistance of their collaborative process – the sharing of a work that transforms everyone who sees it into an active participant.

For the entire article – click HERE (or check out your newsstands!)
Email for Pete Duvall: pete@anythingphoto.net