Triptych Installed: A Coastal Glass Landscape for a Modern Home
Now open for new commissions.
This one’s been a long time coming, nearly a year since the first concept, i.e., Crayola colored pencils in a pocket-sized sketchbook.
I had just road-tripped back from Minnesota after wrapping up an apprenticeship with Willet Studios, and, in retrospect, the confidence I had in my training was a little audacious.
The clients, based in Ocean Beach, sent a photo of a 70x52” custom bedroom window. I didn’t know how I would manage, but I knew I could figure it out. And with some first-rate help, I did.
The physical build took just under six weeks, from glass cutting to installation. For the majority of the other nine and a half months, I was hemming and hawing over the design, making bad drawings, making some better ones, working on side projects, building other windows, traveling, dreaming of the birds…
I have a pending article dedicated to the design evolution, from that original sketch through to the full-scale glass pattern. Here, I’ll stick with the aerial progression from concept to design, cutting, glazing, cementing, reinforcing, framing, installation, and so on.
It’s a tedious, and time-consuming practice, the only kind that can deliver an artwork or object that will endure. I’m playing the long game with this work, doing my best to think in terms of decades—genuinely even in centuries—rather than weeks, months, and years. Glass does not degrade; it takes over a million years to decompose. So what goes in the window, with some love every few decades, has the potential to outlive us all.
An object that carries genuine weight (in literal and metaphorical senses, both) causes time to slow and reality to conform around it; this is what Einstein showed us, and it is the driving inspiration for my installations. I intend to attract people’s attention to objects with a strong gravitational center, to the sunlight, and to color—and, in so doing, provide a slow moment of pause, calm, and awe. Rest. A break from the chaos and an invitation to engage with something of genuine substance and beauty.
But enough waxing eloquent.
Concept
This is an east-facing custom bedroom window in a modern Ocean Beach home, looking out on a small courtyard, just across from the front door. The clients wanted a design that provided privacy, color, and something of the local California landscape.
It’s a big window, 24 square feet, so we agreed to keep the original glass in place and segment the stained glass into three smaller windows, each with a unique inset frame.
We took measurements (twice) and moved on to the details of the design and framing.
