Glass Heaven

This summer my husband and I took a trip to the Buffalo, NY area for my 40th birthday--and on the way home we stopped at the Corning Glass Museum to be enveloped in the malleable moldable sculptural medium that is glass! Here I am by the Louis Sullivan Window from the turn of the last century, tentatively feeling that 40 was ok!













When I was going to Library School in Urbana, IL, we took a roadtrip to Clinton, IA, to see the Sullivan designed Van Allen department store. I was fascinated with the ornamentation--the lively detailed vegetation that seemed to grow from the building itself. Architecture suddenly became alive for me with its intersection of function and beauty, and the wonder of this relationship, how it shelters both body and spirit. Sullivan was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and often overshadowed by his famous fame-seeking student, but Sullivan deserves to shine in his own light.

Part of the reason I am attracted to mosaics is their structural aspect--the way mosaic originated on floors or walls integrated with the fabric of the building.


Check out this fabulous photoset on Louis Sullivan by Atelier Tee.