Lucid Glass Industries
Press
"Sculpture And Design with Recycled Glass" by Cindy Ann Coldiron, 2011, Schiffer Books
The Evolution of Kopp's Meditation Garden
Artist Catherine Lottes tells Patch how the project evolved over the last 18 months and explains what people will see and experience now.
By David Cotey (Patch Staff)
December 10, 2012 at 10:56pm
The Kopp’s Meditation Garden, when completed, will include 8,000 pounds worth of beautiful glass art pieces in the shape of eight large cubes that will appear to be floating off the ground.
And while 8,000 pounds is quite a bit, it’s a far cry from the massive amount that would have been needed for a design approved by owner Karl Kopp back in April 2011.
That plan called for 8-foot diameter culvert tubes separated by large glass disks. Local artist Catherine Lottes estimated those disks would have required 100 tons of glass—or approximately 200,000 pounds!
“And that would have been quite expensive to make, transport and install,” Lottes said.
Lottes’s initial instinct, she said, was to “dematerialize” the project, making it more environmentally friendly, and more practical to fabricate and install. Lottes suggested replacing the metal, horizontal tubes with vertical, curved planes, reducing the amount of metal needed by about 75 percent.
“There were practical considerations for the site—a busy, suburban location—and limitations in budget, scale and purpose to consider as well as durability,” Lottes said. “Karl also had distinct preferences in color as well as symmetry and repetition of form.”
Instead of using painted steel for the planes, Lottes opted for anodized aluminum—easier to handle and more durable—in 6-foot by 12-foot curved sheets. The alloy that was used would not go completely black, so the sunlight catches golden undertones which are very subtle and change with the light and shadow all day long.
The glass cubes also went through an evolution process. Large glass discs became a pyramid-style structure before Lottes and Kopp settled on the cubes. Each 44-inch square iridescent glass panel (five per cube), resembles raw fire opals, and is made from recycled oven windows that have a heat reflective coating on them. The glass elements were fabricated entirely in-house at Lottes’s studio in Riverwest, each one taking five days in the kilns before being safety laminated and cut to size. The final design reduced the amount of glass needed by 95 percent less than the original plan.
A crew from Paul Davis Restoration expertly helped install the aluminum panels and glass cubes during an unusually warm week at the end of November, and Lottes and assistant Dan Dricken have been working on them ever since.
The cubes will be lighted from the inside, and there is some landscaping that might not be completed until spring, but Lottes hopes the finished project is one the community will come to enjoy and appreciate.
“Public artwork is often controversial and rarely pleases everyone. I suspect people will respond to it in a variety of ways,” Lottes said. “One of my goals as a glass artist is to give new life to discarded glass. Making the glass cubes hollow and lighting them from within will give them a variety of interesting looks during the day and night. “The aluminum screens are meant to block out some of the noise and distraction of the traffic as well as offer more privacy. … The visual elements offer a variety of contrasts in color, texture, light, surface, shape and materials, with the ever-changing effects of light and shadow.”
Lottes said she’d like to see the garden be utilized for other types of temporary or changing artwork in the future, including soundscapes, music, performance pieces and possibly even contemporary dance.
Editor’s note: Catherine Lottes is the owner of Lucid Glass and her artwork can be seen locally in the Menomonee Valley Stormwater Park along Canal St. east of Miller Park and west of Falk under the 35th St. viaduct, in the Potawatomi Solstice lounge, in the lobby of the building at 311 E. Chicago St. at Lapham Park and elsewhere.
http://patch.com/wisconsin/greenfield/the-evolution-of-kopp-s-mediation-garden
Bronzeville’s “Life’s Garden” newest artwork and great history lesson
28 October 2011
Barbara Plouff, consultant for the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM), initially contacted Catherine Lottes, overa year and a half ago, with funding provided by the Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) and the Housing Authority, to initiate the public art piece, “Life’s Garden.” Tony Perez, HACM executive director, was instrumental in making a commitment to
incorporating art as part of good design and good development.
Lottes invited the multifaceted visual artist, Evelyn Patricia Terry, to work with seniors from Lapham Park and youth from the Pieper-Hillside Boys and Girls Club. They created watercolor images “of their favorite things.” Tom Miller and the Art Corps at Milwaukee Community Service Corps also contributed important images of a Bronzeville “tree of life,” and all the images provided inspiration for Lottes’ design. Lee Callewaert, of Dragonfly Tile & Stone, masterfully installed the final artwork on the corner of 6th and Reservoir, at the Lapham Park senior development.
Artist, designer, and glass fabricator
for the mosaic “Life’s Garden;”
Catherine Lottes (left), is congratulated
by assisting artist, Evelyn Patricia
Terry (right), for a job well done. Ann
Wilson (not pictured), Hillside Family
Resource Center Manager, served as
Mistress of Ceremonies for an
unveiling ceremony, which took place
the afternoon of Friday, October 21, to
kick off Milwaukee’s 24th year of
celebrating Gallery Night and Day. The
Housing Authority of the City of
Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Arts
Board sponsored this public artwork,
located at Lapham Park Senior Citizen
Apartment Building on 6th and
Reservoir.
Photo is courtesy of Diane Yokes
Lottes began her career as a professional artist creating paintings for the City of Milwaukee, now installed at Wilson Park Senior Citizen Center on 27th and Howard Avenue. She went
on to work with children in schools and community centers as an artist- in-residence for the WAB in the early to mid-1980s.
For the last 15 years, Lottes has been working with recycled glass as an artistic medium for public art, in addition to creating products for designers and architects. Her kiln-fused recycled glasswork can be seen along the Hank Aaron State Trail in the Menomonee Valley and a variety of other places throughout Milwaukee and beyond.
The process Lottes developed and expertly utilizes is unique in that it fuses recycled glass with graphic and photographic images into the mosaic tiles. She developed this process through a grant from the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources Waste Reduction and Recycling Program. Participants’ names, poems, photos, and drawings, such as the monarch butterflies, sunflowers, a turtle, were scanned. A plethora of striking mages on glass mosaic tiles resulted.
Music notes incorporated into the piece reflect the strong history of Walnut Street – now known as Bronzeville – as the hub of Black social life. In the 30s and 40s, Jazz clubs frequented the area. Presently, the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts, Elm Creative Arts School, and Days Inn – Milwaukee’s art hotel, reflect a strong neighborhood connection to the arts.
There is also a history of incorporating art into public housing beginning with “Parklawn,” Milwaukee’s first housing development. Several sculptures were created specifically for Parklawn during the Great Depression by Federal Arts Program artists. These sculptures were located and restored a decade ago and are once again on display in Parklawn’s Monument Park.
“Life’s Garden” is an effective collaborative effort of Wisconsin’s resources and cultural capital. State and city government, artists, craftspeople, and several generations of residents all came together to create this great work of art that celebrates the history of the Lapham Park neighborhood.
Visit Lottes website at www.lucidglassind.com and Terry’s website at www.evelynpatriciaterry.com.
Note: This project was recently awarded a 2014 - 17th Annual Mayor's Design Award by the City of Milwaukee: http://city.milwaukee.gov/MayorsDesignAwards.htm#.VL1wGhzJc20
The Mayor’s Design Awards are presented in an ongoing effort to recognize design excellence throughout the city of Milwaukee. Recipients have added value to their neighborhoods by restoring, constructing or enhancing their properties in a way that respects the urban fabric and contributes to the character of their surroundings.
