“Dressed Windows”
“As an aperture in an architectural wall, the window is similar to the eye, which links the visible world of nature to the invisible world of the mind. At times the clarity of the window’s geometry provides a comprehensible form for the complexities of human experience, or focuses our awareness on unknown mysteries beyond our ken.”
Carla Gottlieb, The Window in Twentieth Century Art
Many inhabitants of the shotgun and other modest housing types of the Third Ward transform their standardized houses into unique, individual expressions of dwelling with commonplace, inexpensive materials of cardboard, aluminum foil, screens and newspapers. Layered over double hung windows and intertwined with a variety of steel burglar bars, the windows become three dimensional sieves filtering out excessive heat and light, flies and mosquitoes, as well as human intruders, while still permitting the occasional cooling breeze. Activated by light and air, the windows can create richly textured moments of light and shadow in interior spaces by day and become lantern-like at night. In addition to these protected windows that provide physical protection, the passerby will still see the occasional traditional “dressed window or yard,” in which ordinary domestic objects are transformed through contact with natural elements into protective charms that might ward off evil spirits. In these “medicated yards” like that of Robert Harper, which was located only blocks away from the Project Row House site, objects that move in the wind like pin-wheels and hubcaps, are treated as special objects that communicate unseen spiritual forces and provide spiritual protection to its inhabitants. The phenomena of these physically and metaphysically protected windows reflect a potent intersection of "being and circumstance" and are the inspiration for this installation.
Sheryl Tucker de Vazquez
Project Type:
Artist Installation, Collaboration with Sheryl Tucker de Vasquez
Pesonal Contribution/Skills:
Technical and Presentation Drawings
Physical Models
3D modeling and Rendering
Design, Fabrication, and Installation