Desert Crossings: Luminous Journey

“Sarah's artistic skills are diverse and exceptionally well executed. She is innovative and technically accomplished. She uses a varied selection of high-quality materials and her portfolio had enormous breath and depth, the greatest we saw in our search."  
- Nancy Harvey, Chair, Stained Glass Committee  
 
The recently opened Gwen Harris Music Building (Nov 2005) was designed by Hugh Knoell Jr. of Knoell & Quidort Architects as the campus venue for rehearsals and concerts. The 36 clerestory windows encircle the entire building with over 880 square feet of glass. The Stained Glass Committee, chaired by Nancy Harvey and Peggy Iacobelli, sent out calls for entry to over 40 known glass artists and reviewed the portfolios of 20 artists before selecting Sarah Hall.  
 
 
The Concept  
 
These forms are based on a series of sketches drawn from photos of the local desert: a poetic and painterly response to my experience in Arizona. The intensity that is gathered into the ‘fire flower’ over the podium gives a dynamic power to the composition. The desert forms move out from the podium through the warm golds, flowing into blue-greens and then dissolving into deep blue: chosen to correspond with the intensity and full spectrum of light present in the music building.  
 
The drawings from the desert are overlaid with lyrically painted rhythmic measures of musical composition. These intersections give us an ever-changing illuminated pattern of crossings and a sense of journey.  
 
 
The Artist  
 
Sarah Hall, RCA is an internationally celebrated glass artist who is well known for pioneering imaginative architectural projects. The 36 windows incorporate techniques such as hand made opal glass, air-brushing, fusing and laminations of dichroic glass. These techniques give the windows a light, free, lyrical quality - along with breath-taking color. The windows were created at Studio Glasmalerei Peters in Paderborn, Germany where Sarah creates most of her work. For further information please visit our web sites: www.sarahhallstudio.com & www.saintbarnabas.org.  
 
Contact: Rev. Philip Carlson (pcarlson@saintbarnabas.org)