Projects 2020-2000 > Student Life Building, FSU. Tallahassee, FL

Student Life Building

Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida
Art in State Buildings Program

2001

The Student Life Building houses the Cinema, the Cyber Café, and a range of other special services to enrich the social experiences of the student body. In keeping with this upbeat spirit I designed a stained glass window that makes people smile. The window is 7'x7'x 1/2".

To do my design I gathered yearbooks from every decade and selected all sorts of faces for the background grid of my collage. The grid is irregular, having originated as a paper weaving, giving the piece an organic feel. There is something very compelling about faces, all aglow with the sunlight, beaming down upon the viewer. This is also true when viewed from outside at night.

Superimposed against the faces is a grouping of circles with contemporary FSU images, and foliage from palms and live oaks, both local species of trees. I've also included flambeaux, since they are a school symbol, and a border of Seminole patterns.

Photos by Stephen Traves