The Willow

Super excited about this project.   I am waiting for final approval (cash down payment), so the recipient of this donor wall will remain unnamed until then but take a look.

I came up with a this idea a few years back for an organization that chose another way of honoring their donors.  Their mistake, in my humble opinion.  Most donor walls I see are very similar... brass plaques, in rows according to the size of their donation, on a wooden background - or something similar.

Because this piece is going in a theater I thought it should be more dramatic and resemble what goes on there.  The body of this willow tree is dancing in the wind, the branches are her arms, and the legs are her trunk.  The greenery will be pieces approximately 4-6" wide by 10-13" tall, with individual pieces of colored glass adhered to them.  The background for the glass will be wood.  Each 12" piece will be screwed onto the background so they can be easily changed out as donors increase their total donations.

The colors will be very dramatic as well.  I will be using gold, silver, and black paint for the donors names, which will add to the variety of color.  Because there is another large stained glass installation in this building, I will be taking colors from it and incorporating it into the willow.  I'm starting on it Monday!

How can you get one?  If you are part of an arts organization, or non-profit that is looking for a way to honor their donors... give me a call.  I would love to come up with something exciting for you as well.

Pat Deere

Theatre, Mosaics, and Weeping Willows

I was asked by a local theatre to come up with an idea for their donor wall. What you see here was actually a sample board for a mosaic idea on another project... that I didn't get. (But I did get 5 stained glass windows on that job.) This sample board would have been used in a bathroom and resembled a section of splashing water.

At any rate, my idea is to make a weeping willow tree. The hanging leaves will actually be pieces of glass - some fused and some not (like the glass sample shown). The fused pieces will add a lot of dimension to the piece.

The trunk of the tree will have the feel of a dancing figure swaying in the wind like a weeping willow. Names of the donors will be engraved on the leaves.

Don't know all of the details yet but we will be moving in this direction. I love it when my customers give me the ability to use my artistic expression and not be tied into a preconceived idea of what they think it should be. History has shown they are usually much happier with the results.

I'll keep you posted.

Pat Deere