The Union is looking brighter these days thanks to 18 new glass hangings displayed in the windows facing the Parade Ground.
The flat glass exhibit — which includes different styles such as faceted glass, leaded glass and stained glass — was hung last Wednesday to accompany the Hot Glass/Cold Glass Invitational Show that will open March 7.
Union Art Gallery Director Judy Stahl said that the gallery committee brought the stained glass exhibits, as well as blown glass in the gallery, to LSU because there isn’t much glass artwork in Baton Rouge.
Stahl said the members of the committee were interested in the show because the artwork is from the Baton Rouge and New Orleans community of artists, studios and schools, and they want to generate interest from the people that supplied the funds — students.
The Union Art Gallery Committee was able to bring the show to the Union using the Student Enrichment Fund, which comes from student fees.
“I use mouth-blown glass from Germany,” said Mary Ann Cafferey, one of the stained glass artists who graduated from the now-expired stained glass specialization in the University fine arts master’s degree.
Cafferey said that artists can use either mouth-blown glass, which is usually more expensive, or glass made by machines. Cafferey prefers mouth-blown glass because it has color gradations and strawmarks, which she said refracts the light better and adds beauty to the piece.
The glass manufacturers introduce different chemicals to produce different colors. Then, they spread the molten glass into a sheet to ship to the artists.
Cafferey receives the glass after manufacturers make their changes and starts to shape it into her own design.
“I find stained glass appealing because I like working with light,” Cafferey said. “Stained glass manipulates that light.”
With just the wood panel walls and concrete floors, the artwork does more than just hang around. The exhibits create a new focus point that accentuates the view over the Parade Ground.
Depending on the sunlight, the pieces may convey two different shades on any given day.
“It’s a highly sensitive and versatile medium,” said participating artist Paulo Dufour. “It has a long history of creative expression and invention that has recently broken out of the decorative arts crafts stigma.”
He said traditionally, stained glass works were tied into the structure of other objects, such as buildings. But now they have become individual autonomous panels free of architectural structures.
“They’re a nice change to the plain windows,” said music education junior Aaron Moyer.
Stahl said the exhibit was a joint effort. The gallery had to work with multiple departments of the Union to allow the pieces to hang in the windows.
Union Facility Maintenance Manager Cliff Starks said the doors at the Union entrance held other glass exhibits five or six years ago.
He said they would have put the exhibits by the doors again, but because of Cox Communications’ new location at the bottom of the Union, they could not get the forklift in the proper location to hang the exhibits.
“It’s off-center, but everyone’s really liked it,” Starks said. “They’ve wanted to know if they are permanent.”
Starks said they used an aluminum tubing on a pre-existing curtain rack in order to hang the pieces.
Some of the exhibits are for sale. For more information, contact the Union Art Gallery at (225) 578-5162.
The exhibits will be on display until April 2.