Public Projects
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Eugene Public Library
An amalgam photo: The east and west windows
The east and west windows, rising two stories, were completed for the 2000 opening of the library.
As can be gleaned from the the models, each is based on a repeating rectangular shape.
In 2005, I was asked to design an east-facing window for the 1st floor, an exciting site with the glass rising from ground level in a setting that is as much a city streetscape element as it is interior decoration.
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The 1st floor window
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The west window model
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The model for the east window
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East window- center of dichroic glass chips fused between clear layers
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The west window at night
Photo: George Filgate Photography
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Newport Public Library
Newport Public Library detail
Newport is Oregon’s largest coastal city.
An initial design fell flat with the committee. “We’re all about the water,” I was told.
A central image of waves surrounded by an etched area of more waves with ripple glass at the edges found favor.
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The window sits above the main entrance to the library
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The full window
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Hult Center Ticket Office
Fused Glass, common now, was a rare thing in the early ‘80’s when I created glass at the ticket office for the The Hult Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Eugene.
Banding in many forms was used throughout the building; this project employs banding as well. The top has music images. The center band has stage images- a set, lights, and dancers. The lower evokes the creative spirit, with dancing forms taking shape, drifting pages, and characters from a play.
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This design "crowns" each ticket window.
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Small fused glass tiles ornament the border of each ticket window
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"Composer's Dream," an image of pages adrift in one's imagination, yet to be realized.
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The full expanse of the ticket office
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Lane Transit District's Eugene Station
The original drawing of the four panels at the porticoes
The project for Eugene’s central public transit station had two parts- glass at the arches and pyramids at the clock tower.
The arches depict those elements that make our place: the ocean to the west, the mountains to the east, the river flowing north, and the butte that is the southern terminus of the Willamette Valley.
Each represents, in its relative use of yellow and blue, a season.
The dichroic glass pyramids at the clock tower assumed the place of what would have been glass block.
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The east-facing portico: mountains
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The composition at the west arch
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Raised areas of glass at the north portico sparkle in direct sunlight
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The south portico shows Spencer Butte and the descending light of autumn
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Glass pyramids at the clock tower
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The public service building and the south portico
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Eugene Police Headquarters
For the Eugene Police Headquarters, sculptor Ellen Tykeson and I, working collaboratively, were asked to address the full length of the security wall at the automobile entry.
To give the setting a formal feel, two shades of concrete block were arranged in rows.
Colorful lanterns along the 160’ length provide continuity and rhythm.
Ellen interwove images to make a central sculpture. Two of her drawings are rendered in metal at the public entry porch.
We collaborated on in-wall lanterns that flank the gate through which police pass when leaving and returning from duty.
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Another view of the wall, extending from the headquarters
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Ellen's central sculpture
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From Ellen's drawings- stainless steel cut-outs at the public service area porch.
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Ellen's drawing for "Two Torches"
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The "Two Torches" lantern of stainless steel and fused glass
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The police security gate flanked by the "Two Torches" lanterns
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A wall lantern: as with traffic lights there are three colors, but I mixed it up, color-wise
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The lantern has a sort of pose, not unlike a salute
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"Rise" at Price Science Commons
The University of Oregon’s addition to the science library is Price Science Commons, named for Allan S Price.
Allan’s wife Susan Price was asked to make a memorial piece. She enlisted my aid in the creation of “Rise”.
The central disc is fused glass; the top surface is Bullseye’s gold iridescent on black. To this disc are attached elements of carved maple which have been gold-leafed.
The background is pebble mosaic. The “rays” of the sun are raised and repoussèd brass, elements made in conjunction with metalsmith Randy Ortiz. A patina gives the brass a deep, warm tone.
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Detail showing the four key elements of the artwork- the glass disc, the gold-leafed wood, the raised brass and the pebble background.
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Raised metal samples made as we sought the right look for the brass rays.
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Newport City Hall
Together, metalsmith Greg Wilbur and I were commissioned to create artwork at the Newport City Hall council chambers.
Newport is a coastal town; using water as a theme is encouraged and expected. We saw our design as a metaphor for political deliberations- the hard and set notion of established law changed over time by the relentless action of the water.
Greg’s work is in raised metal- thousands of hammer blows shape what begins as flat metal and, along the way, renders a pleasingly textured surface. Some elements are polished, some are toned with patina.
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The sculpture at the entry to the council chamber
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Greg & I installing the artwork
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One of Greg's drawings
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At the studio- a mock-up with Greg's raised pieces.
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White glass at the base reflects light through a layer of glass "stringers" and the rippling surface.
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Raised metal: It takes many hammer-blows for Greg to create each piece.
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University Housing
Title: "Take a Trip Around the World"
Two projects were commissioned for the University of Oregon’s Spencer View Housing, a complex for married students, and especially for international married students and families with children.
For the child care center, a clerestory window was filled with images that range from the ocean to the mountains; an array of places and things, peculiar to me, I suppose, made their way into this composition. This work was inspired by the Swiss/German artist Paul Klee.
At the administration lobby was an array of windows based on a quilt pattern. These have mysteriously disappeared.
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Child Care Window: Left-hand Detail
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Child Care Window: Right-hand Detail
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Model panel for the Administration Lobby windows
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The full array of panels at the administration lobby
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Color-field and Leaf Details: Administration Lobby Window
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The quilt pattern was used as a symbol of home and warmth
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Maude Kerns Art Center
Maude Kerns Art Center Henry Korn Gallery Doors
This art education center is named for the Eugene artist and educator, Maude Kerns.
I thought it was rather sly when I designed panels to fit the existing gallery doors for the bi-annual exhibit “Art for Interiors.”
The subsequent show was of women’s art organized by Martha Snyder, who asked that I leave the work in place, snakes being a symbol of power for women.
After that, I left the panels in place until some damage to the panels and deterioration of the doors led me to announce to staff the removal of the glass. Staff found a donor to pay for the artwork and the refreshing of the doors, and “Snakes!” is now a permanent installation at the entrance to the Henry Korn Gallery and part of the streetscape along 15th Avenue in Eugene.
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The entrance to the Henry Korn Gallery
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Detail of the glass types and dichroic eyes
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Moss Street Child Care
A multitude of glass techniques were used to make the bird
The model for the project
“Buds, bugs, butterflies…and a bird”
The Moss Street Childcare had various classrooms named for birds, and this was my model and proposal.
Children are very taken with their immediate surroundings. Maybe it’s that they are closer to the ground and notice things like buds and bugs.
Contact:
Email me at john.rose3@comcast.net.
Mailing and Shipping Address:
John Rose
Rose Design Studios
1168 West 2nd Avenue
Eugene, Oregon 97402
541 342 6872