A Day In Parkchester
In 2011, A Day in Parkchester was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Arts for Transit for installation in the Parkchester Station in the Bronx, NY. The faceted glass project was produced by Erskin Mitchell Stained Glass, the art is based on my original designs.
Final design for the faceted glass window, Sunrise
This panel will appear on the stairs leading to the downtown platform. This is what passengers will see when they go to school or work in the morning.
Final design for Moonrise
This will be installed by the stairs leading from the uptown platform. This is what passengers will see when they return home at night.
That's me - William Low in the offices of Metropolitan Transportation Authority, reviewing the full size mock-up for Moonrise. Erskin Mitchell created these cartoons for each panel of the mural- 20 panels per mural. The final window will be a whopping 11 feet by 11 feet! In the mockup, black lines are used to show the breakdown of glass... black epoxy-resin is used as leading for the individual pieces.
It is now time to buy the glass. We visit the Blenko Glass Company, in Milton, West Virginia with a shopping list and a color printout of the design.
Throughout the warehouse are open crates of colored glass
The only way to choose glass is to pick up the individual block to view it against the sky.
Love that purple glass!
That is Erskin showing me the fine points of picking colored glass.
Six months later I visit the studio to check on progress.
A completed panel is propped against a window. The workbench holds the pieces of a panel in progress.
Individual glass pieces are chosen, cut by hand and pieced together, like a jigsaw puzzle.
Here is a detail of the panel after the epoxy is poured. This panel is ready for clean up.
A hammer and chisel is used to remove the excess epoxy.
Six months later, crates of the completed sections arrive in Parkchester Station.
Installation
The first mural to be installed is Daytime. A scaffold is set up and the individual panels are brought to the installation site.
The view of the installation from outside.
Daytime panels are all in place
The glass seems to come alive, as it shimmers from the street activity below.
There I, am in front of the completed Sunrise panel. The next day we install Moonrise.
The glass panels look great in the completed renovation.
Art for the people, to last for generations!
