Glass Artwork Being Installed in URI’s Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering

Light Pressure sculpture — “Light Pressure” sculpture being installed one glass rod at a time. Photo courtesy of Jenn Figg.

By Neil Nachbar

The Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering at the University of Rhode Island already features 70,550 square feet of glass, which would be enough to cover an entire football field. Now, more glass is being added in the form of artwork.

Artists Jenn Figg and Matthew McCormack are installing four sculptures this summer. The first one they are installing, called “Light Pressure,” will stretch through the hall on the west side of the building.

Using a series of straight and curved glass rods suspended from the ceiling, the sculpture is meant to conjure the feeling of a jet flying at transonic speeds.

The clear glass is embedded with mica flakes to interrupt and reflect the light. During the day, “Light Pressure” will appear semi-transparent, sparkling with the changing natural light. In the evening, the sculpture will come alive with gently fading light patterns from 2,000 integrated LEDs.

rendering of Light Pressure — This rendering shows what the sculpture will look like once it’s completed. Image courtesy of Jenn Figg.

“‘Light Pressure’ is a visual narrative that conates mechanical, electrical, and optical phenomena, specifically blending pressure and fluid dynamics with the visuality of collimated light and force fields,” said the artists in their project proposal. “Moving left to right, a large gesture of a vortex gives way to a linear row of light encircled with curving glass and planar sheets, referencing both magnetic fields and turbine blades.”

In addition to being artists, Figg and McCormack also teach art at Towson University in Maryland, where Figg is an associate professor and McCormack is an adjunct professor. Samples of their work can be seen here.