BOOKS OF A FEATHER
Recognized by Americans for the Arts for the 2018 Public Art Network Year in Review
Glass and ceramic tile on concrete sculpture
15’ x 6’ x 10’ 2017
Alice McKean Young Library, Houston, TX
Books of a Feather draws parallels between the physical flight of birds and the flights of imagination found in books. The free movement of birds stretches our imagination towards a world that exists beyond our vision, just as explorations in the library open our minds to new and unfamiliar views.
Commissioned for the Houston Public Library’s (HPL) Alice McKean Young Neighborhood Library, Books of a Feather features three 12 to 15 feet tall x 6 feet wide, x 10 feet long stainless steel and concrete birds that are covered in multi-colored glass and ceramic mosaic tiles. The hand-made, high-fired ceramic tiles were stamped with book titles that include words associated with birds and flight. Well loved book titles flow like ribbons along the birds’ sides and the mosaic tiles shimmer and sparkle when caught by the light. A lighting system illuminates the birds after sunset.
Photos by Hall Puckett
PRESS
GETTING TO KNOW DIXIE FRIEND GAY
Glasstire | Ariane Roesch | June 4th, 2017
This video documents her most recent installation Books of a Feather, which consists of three 15-foot tall mosaic birds in front of the Alice M. Young Library in Houston.
The podcast is an extended version of our interview, where the artist talks about how to balance being a mother and an artist, advice on how to get involved in public art, and how her first public intervention was taking political action against a series of gates seperating affluent and minority neighborhoods in Houston.
