Light Through Water
Sandra Bruso
- Artist
- Sandra Bruso
- Location
- Cudjoe Key Fire Station, Cudjoe Key, FL
- Installed
- November 5, 2018
An architectural glass installation set into the fire station's main entrance, featuring layers of kiln-formed glass in oceanic blues and greens. Sunlight passing through the panels casts shifting colored patterns across the station's interior lobby throughout the day.
“Light Through Water” by glass artist Sandra Bruso brings the colors and luminosity of the surrounding waters into the Cudjoe Key Fire Station. The installation consists of three large kiln-formed glass panels set into the transom above the station’s main entrance, each measuring approximately three by five feet.
Bruso developed a proprietary technique of layering multiple sheets of glass with embedded metallic oxides and dichroic elements, resulting in panels that appear to shift in color and depth as viewing angles and light conditions change. The effect is particularly striking in the morning hours, when eastern sunlight projects vivid aquatic patterns across the lobby floor and walls.
The installation was the result of a competitive selection process managed by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts’ Art in Public Places committee. Bruso was chosen from a field of twenty-three applicants for her ability to create work that is both aesthetically compelling and suited to the demanding environmental conditions of the Keys, including hurricane-force wind resistance and salt air durability.