The end of the 70's and into the decade of the 80's led me to the construction of 2 dimensional wall pieces. My process in constructing the first few panels was to blow a decorated cylinder of glass which was then opened into a flat sheet. The sheet was then copper foiled into a sheet of grey plate glass that had the blown sheet dimension sandblasted out. I eventually discovered a glass called Vitrolite. Vitrolite is a very colorful opaque sheet glass that had been manufactured by Libbey Glass and was used for store fronts, bathroom walls, service stations and a host of other applications. Its manufacture ceased in 1954. I obtained a large quantity of this glass in a myriad of colors and began to incorporate large pieces of it into my glass wall collages. I produced a good number of these Vitrolite panels and they were met with great success. In 1982, one of these wall pieces was featured in the LIFE magazine article about five American glass artists.
The work shown below is a good example of the work I produced from the first blown sheet panels and into the Vitrolite works.
For a slide show of the images below click on the image.
Panels 1978
Vitrolite Wall Panels
Ferro Corp., Cleveland, Ohio - Vitrolite Panels - Lobby Installation
All the works in the Ferro commission above are dimensioned at 32 x 24