Flint Bus Depot - Women's Rights Window

My current commission is one for the Michigan Transportation Authority. They are installing a series of stained glass windows, about 4.5'x16', in the Flint Bus Depot. I will be fabricating 5 windows total and designing 2 of them.

This computerized drawing shows, roughly, what the window will look like. The background will be an assortment of Youghiogheny glass rectangles arranged into a sunrise color scheme. The 5 women I was to highlight + Maya Angelou (my personal favorite), will have their silhouettes in heavy lead in the background.

Now, where your help comes in... I would like to include pieces of glass from women in your lives who helped you personally, like the pioneers of the Women's Rights Movement helped all of us, through their own strength, courage, and wisdom. Immediately I thought of the grandparents in my life that I was so blessed to have. Growing up, both my husband and myself, were fortunate to have parents, grandparents, and great grandparents who were positive influences on us. I am going to incorporate glass pieces from as many of these strong women as I can, into the scale which will make up the central part of this design. I prefer to have clear glass but will include others where I can.

For example, my Grandma Schmuckal kept a lot of stuff. I was able to acquire a glass shade from her that had a crack in it. The picture you see here is a scan of the edge of that glass. I will be cutting this off of the broken shade with a diamond band saw, flattening it in the kiln, and cutting it to the size I need. I have a broken crystal glass of my mom's. As you can see, I don't throw much away if it is glass. I will be using some of the pieces from that glass in the scale as well.

So... if you have a female in your life that had an impact on you, like women from the women's movement had on society... and you want to include a piece of their glass (preferably clear) into this design. I would love to hear from you. I may not be able to include all of it but if you send it, I will try to fit it in.

LOOKING FOR: Glass from influential women in your life!

Pat