Inspired by Yeats and the light education brings to the life of an individual, local artist Katie Pernu created a glass mosaic to hang in the Visitors' Center Gallery in the Administration Building on the campus of Northeastern State University-Broken Arrow.
University maintenance crews hung the work on May 29 and 30, but a formal opening will be held at the university in the fall.
Pernu, who teaches art at Haskell Middle School, created the mosaic in 11 weeks. The three window panels are jewel-toned, with thousands of pieces of glass in rich hues of blue, red, yellow and orange. Viewers are immediately drawn to the predominate focal point of the piece, which is a giant sunburst.
“We are thrilled to have on display a demonstration of Pernu’s artistry,” said Dr. Christee Jenlink, Dean of NSU-BA.
To choose the colors for the piece, Pernu spent time in the gallery considering the colors already in the room, as well as considering nature’s ever changing pallet of campus colors outside the window.
Thematic elements of the piece include civilization, nature and history.
“There are sections that stand for our mistakes and successes and the pathways we have chosen because of them.” Pernu said.
“The image of the sunburst represents the light, the energy, the power and the opportunity we receive from a well-rounded and in-depth education,” Pernu said. “We not only receive these things from education, but we can become these things to our communities, through our education.”
Since the piece was commissioned for a university, Pernu designed the work with education in mind.
“Education changes lives, gives direction and guidance, points out strengths and weaknesses, and provides most of us with the means to make a living,” she said.
In her artist statement Pernu said, “We can all make life richer for each other and ourselves when all of our strengths work together, and when we all are able to receive a good education.”
These ideas are all represented by the spiral in the center of the circle and the rays of light extending outward from it.
The artist was chosen to create the piece after other pieces of her work were displayed in the gallery during an art show last fall.
University Regent, Jan Gordon, provided the funds to commission the art from the David Gordon Memorial Fund. The fund is in honor of former Regent David Gordon, who according to Jenlink deserves much of the credit for the NSU-BA campus.
“It is a visual feast for the senses,” said Jan Gordon. “It has embedded in it, both excitement and harmony.”
Each panel is 100 inches tall and 80 inches wide and weighs approximately125 pounds. Hanging the heavy panels at the top of the arch proved to be an engineering feet for the maintenance department.
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