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Artist: Liliana Mejia Sikorsky
Date: 2004
Material: Stained glass, fused glass
Location: John S. Martinez School Media Center. 100 James Street.
Liliana Mejia-Sikorsky's glass wall featuring ocean life themes serves as the enclosure for the school's Media Center. Combining old and new glass technologies, the artist used stained glass, fused glass and colored glass to create the vibrant scenes of sea plants and animals floating in soft blue waves.
The technique used by Mejia-Sikorsky has been popular since the Middle Ages: pieces of colored glass are fused together with thin strips of lead and tin solder. Due to the fragile nature of the material, the glass panels were sandwiched between a layer of thermo-tempered glass, protecting the art glass and making the surface easy to clean.
The artist chose the theme of sea life based on the new schools proximity to the Mill River and Long Island Sound and researched the aquatic life with teachers at New Haven's Sound School for Maritime Studies. The school is comprised of small forms that reference the shape of a ship. Mejia-Sikorsky was born in Columbia, South America and presently lives in West Haven. |
