Stories in the Sky

The glare from a massive floor-to-ceiling window in my new classroom prompted me to delve into the origins and purpose of stained-glass windows during the Middle Ages and beyond so we could create an installation that was beautiful and functional. I taught this same lesson to grades six through eight, and students exceeded my expectations. Ultimately, this installation project has created an opportunity to routinely display and celebrate the work of every student.

Fall Installation: Names
Our original window installation featured stained-glass name tags made from black construction paper and colored cellophane. The colors of stained glass really came to life with the translucency of the cellophane, and our options expanded as students began overlapping colors or layering the same color to change the intensity of their selections.

As students worked on their own names and collaborated to overcome obstacles like cutting negative space or finding the right color combinations, each stained-glass name got a little more interesting.

Students intuitively understood the positive and negative space when working with a single piece of paper. One modification was to cut out the letters and glue them directly onto a piece of cellophane.

When the name tags were finished, I used double-sided tape to arrange them, trying to cover the entire window in the process. Gaps were filled by additional stained-glass symbols like the school mascot, a basketball, paint palette, and musical notes.

The more art I added to the window, the more delight I felt in our “story in the sky” as it was a true representation of who we were as a group and what was happening all around us. Students came in and gazed at all the pieces and took pictures of the collaboration with pride. At the end of the trimester, when I returned the work to students, I realized there needed to be a new plan for the window. The plain glass made the room seem boring, and once again the afternoon glare made us squint.

Winter Installation: Snowflakes
For the second trimester, snowflakes were a natural choice for the season. Conveniently, students had a snow day and were able to create numerous virtual snowflakes before they attempted to try their hands with the digital design. Filling in the negative spaces with cellophane added a unique twist to the standard cut-paper snowflake project.

I learned from the first round of student work that the paper wrinkled up with changing weather conditions, the work that was not glued well fell apart upon removal, and—worst of all—the double-sided tape tended to stay on the glass instead of peeling off. Scraping it with a blade wasnʼt fun at all!

These issues forced me to consider new methods of preservation, so I laminated each snowflake and used a glossy desk tape to adhere the works to the glass. I also waited until all the works were finished, laminated, and trimmed so I could color-sort and arrange the work with some flow and rhythm.

I encouraged students to routinely assess their work by holding it up to the window to see how the negative space and colors appeared in the light. I photographed these investigations as they happened and showed the other classes so they could see how appealing and cool it looked to fully immerse themselves in the experience with the translucent material. Students also documented their process and photographed their finished work.

At the end of the trimester, it was a breeze to peel the tape off the window and return the pieces to the student artists based on the photographic documentation—as we know, no two snowflakes are alike, and with a flurry of more than one hundred snowflakes, it became difficult at times to identify one from another.

Spring Installation: April Showers
After humming My Favorite Things during a downpour, I thought April Showers Bring May Flowers might be a suitable theme for the window in springtime. We returned after spring break to make patterned waterdrops and observational drawings of flowers.

The content allowed for doodles as well as realistic and symbolic drawings, often influenced by studentsʼ choice of flowers. The abstraction and fragmentation of an actual object added another element to the design process as students transformed the lines in their drawings into positive and negative spaces. Some designs became quite detailed, requiring the use of craft knives.

The raindrops were installed from the top down while the flowers rose up from the bottom. We filled in little gaps with atmospheric elements. A range of color, style, complexity, and artistry seamlessly flowed together to enrich our learning environment.

Lasting Memories
Every day, the stained-glass installation illuminates our space. Students get to see their own work, their friendsʼ work, and even their siblingsʼ work. More importantly, this large-scale, collaborative installation resulted in a rewarding experience and lasting memory.