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Sagrada Familia Window

$175.00

Barcelona, Spain

 

Fun Facts:

  • There are 18 towers - 12 represent the apostles, 4 represent the evangelists, 1 is for the Virgin Mary and the tallest one in the center represents Jesus Christ
  • A fire broke out in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War and destroyed Gaudi's plans and plaster models
  • The legend has it that the craftsmen working on the church at the time remembered enough of the plans to continue work, and then passed that knowledge down to their sons and grandsons
  • The construction has been funded solely on private donations and entrance fees collected
  • The windows have all be created by Joan Vila-Grau
  • Contrary to traditional Gothic style, the glass at the top of the windows is the most transparent, to better illuminate the mosaics and flecks of gold decorating the vaults.  The densest colors and richest iconography are at the bottom, closest to the faithful.
  • Gaudi was interested in in a process called Trichromy for the stained glass windows, where 3 pieces of glass (yellow, cyan and magenta) are layered with a 4th transparent piece to create depth to the designs.  He tested this process out in the cathedral in Palma, Mallorca, but ultimately decided the windows should be leaded glass.
  • The light inside the church varies dramatically depending on the time of day and time of year, as the rays illuminate the windows
  • Gaudi's ultimate idea for the windows was to have “the light gliding over the windows like water over pebbles"

Process And Size Guidelines

I handcraft each piece in my home studio, located just outside of Kansas City, MO.

Most of the photos I use were taken by me on my travels near and far.    I review each photo, looking for striking colors and strong structural elements.    If you think of the entire design as a pie, I am looking for a perfect “slice” of pie within the picture.  Once I find it, the slice is mirrored and repeated in a circular fashion to create the whole pie, i.e. the kaleidoscopic design.

 

The design then is printed multiple times onto photo paper and I hand cut different elements from each copy of the design with scissors (yes, scissors!). After the cutting is done, I reassemble the pieces into tiered layers separated by foam core, creating the unique three-dimensional kaleidoscopic effect.  Finally, I mount the piece onto mat board and frame it in a shadow box, adding a small copy of the original photo to the piece.

 

 

Each design is available in multiple sizes.  The larger the piece, the more layers the design will have, which gives you even greater depth and dimension.  The larger size also allows for more intricate cutting, providing more texture and more "wow"!

 

 Size
Outside Dimensions Inside Dimensions Frame Color
10x10
9.75" x 9.75" x 2" 9" x 9" x 1.5" Black
13x13
13.5" x 13.5" x 2.75" 12" x 12" x 2.25" Black
16x16
18.5" x 18.5" x 4" 16" x 16" x 3" Custom made reclaimed cedar with museum quality plexiglass front