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Description:
Using 120 square feet of glass, 45 pounds of lead and six pounds of
solder, Tempe glass artist Laurie Nessel created “Window to the
Past,” a 10 by 11-foot leaded glass window which commemorates
Tempe’s past. This artwork features 11 historical images from the
Tempe Historical Museum’s archives which are photo-silkscreened onto
clear glass panels. Along with the photographs, Nessel incorporated
clear antique glass, hand blown glass and stained glass in a design
of flowing blue lines representing Tempe’s Salt River and flowing
brown lines referring to Hayden Butte. Within this matrix, Nessel
scattered cast opalescent glass jewels to visually bind the
composition. The imagery includes historical photographs of Ash
Avenue Bridge (1914), City Hall (1914), Territorial Normal School
(1886), Tempe Commercial Company (1918), Hayden Flour Mill (1874),
Horse and Buggy at Hayden Butte (1900), Pafford House (1910),
Arizona Mercantile (1900), Hayden’s Ferry (1887), Threshers (1920)
and the Train Depot (1915).
Funding:
The project was funded through city of Tempe Capital Improvement
Project Percent for Art funds.
Artist biography:
Laurie Nessel received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978 from
University of Wisconsin–River Falls where she studied glassblowing
and fibers. She studied under Roger Darricarriere in Chartres,
France, before opening her Tempe studio in 1983. Through her
business, Gecko Glass, Nessel creates artworks primarily through
commissions for use in residential construction, making quatrefoil
windows, kitchen cabinets, doors, transoms and skylights. “Window of
the Past” was Nessel’s first public art commission.
Artist
statement:
Nessel
strives to create glass pieces that will modulate light in a variety
of beautiful ways. She says about her work at the Historical Museum,
“I am drawn to historical photographs. By incorporating them into my
glass windows, it creates layers of memory and meaning as we look
outside and view our current world through images of the past." |
