Artwork Detail

To design his piece for Lennox Library, Richardson included community participation through an art making workshop. Inspired by the library being in the flight path of planes arriving and departing the Los Angeles International Airport, the artist decided that the artwork would reflect things in flight. To prepare the workshop participants, the librarian read books about flight. The participants were encouraged to dream of things that do, and even do not, fly and to draw them using oil pastels, markers and pencils. The outcome was a flock of colorful artworks depicting fairies, flying pigs and planes which Denis used in his artwork design. Denis translated the exact drawings into fused glass and combined the images into three panels. The panels were originally above the front entrance of the library. In 2014 the library was renovated, and the artwork was moved to the children's section of the library. The artwork was conserved during the relocation.

Artist Denis Richardson is a Los Angeles-based glass artist who is owner and designer of Catalina Glass Studio. Working in glass for over 35 years, Richardson has completed commissions for private homes, libraries, hospitals and schools including the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Fontana and The Pacific School Library in Manhattan Beach. His predominantly stained-glass pieces demonstrate a range of glass-making processes such as fused and kiln-formed glass.