Community Collaboration in Stained Glass

At December’s Identity Showcase, stained glass artist (and French Specialist) Tania guided us in a shared art initiative. Setting up a temporary workspace at school, Tania offered a “buffet” of art glass cuts from her home studio in a range of textures and hues.  During their  Showcase tours, students, parents, and teachers were invited to carefully browse the collection and choose a piece that they found beautiful. Tania immediately began exploring possible placements, and continued the layout process at home, finding a home for each piece in the growing mosaic design. 

Every cut edge was trimmed and ground for a smooth fit, and wrapped with copper foil for soldering, which fused all of the pieces together in one solid mosaic panel. After a good cleaning, this new art piece was securely installed in the school’s glass entryway for all to enjoy as they pass through our doors. 

The concept:

Our identities find expression in our artistic choices. Individual people are drawn to different colours, tones, and textures, and this is delightful in itself. Giving each person’s choice a space in the design creates a piece with its own unique variety: it reflects each one’s sense of beauty in a whole that is beautiful because of the sum of its parts.