WSU Museum of Art Proves Glass is More Than Windows

PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University’s Museum of Art will continue its “Window Project” exhibit series Feb. 3 through March 30 with a display of art glass by Richard M. Parrish.

The display can be seen 24 hours a day at the George Laisner Sculpture Plaza, the courtyard area in front of the WSU Fine Arts Center. It is the brainchild of museum curator Roger Rowley, who began the project in 2001 and has continually rotated smaller-scaled installations in and out of the museum’s windows.

Past exhibits proved to enliven the façade of the Fine Arts Center building with neon and glass works, meant to catch the eye of passers and draw them into the space, said Anna-Maria Shannon, assistant director of the Museum of Art.

Parrish, a resident of Bozeman, Mont., has worked in various media but most enjoys working with glass. “Glass is a medium that allows wonderful explorations in the transparency and ‘lightness’ of glass, along with the color of light,” he said.

The featured images Parrish created in the exhibit are reminiscent of the Palouse — its shape and color. Two of the images are of the human form in curved, sensual lines like the rolling hills that surround the region. The fused glass panels are, as Parrish states, “ideas about site/map/place in imagery and projection, or view to another place.”

Parrish’s expressions in fused glass are inspired by his early education and work within the architectural realm. He sees the window as a physical and poetic “threshold, a separation between interior and exterior, and as a connector or projector between inside and outside.” The works are two-dimensional, but he attempts to convey a three-dimensional quality.

Funding for museum exhibitions and programs for the fiscal year is provided by Washington State University, the Friends of the Museum of Art, the WSU Foundation and private donors. Additional support for educational programs has been provided by New Garden Restaurant, Pullman Child Welfare, Pullman Heating and Electric, Pullman Kiwanis Club, Pullman Lions Club, Pullman Parks and Recreation, Sims Glass, Windshield Doctor and private donors.

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