Lamplighter School

Third-grade students at Lamplighter, members of the Class of 2020 embark on a unique artistic journey in designing with cellophane what would eventually be their outdoor glass permanent sculpture garden.  With their art teacher Pam O’Krent, the students designed a prototype looking at transparent and opaque colors.  Then the following year, Carlyn came in as an artist in residence.  

During a full day, the students arrange glass shards onto a sheet of glass in pairs and within color groups based on the mock-up designs they did the previous year.  They look at overlapping, arranging, negative space, and decorating with crushed colored glass called frit.  The glass was brought back to the studio where the students were invited to participate in glass blowing and see their designs in the kiln where they will be melted.  A current student of Dallas Glass Art and alumnus of Lamplighter, Jordan Johnson did a demonstration and assisted the students in making a glass piece with the Dallas Glass Art team.

The dedication ceremony of the glass art installation with the students was impactful.  After Dr. Joan Buchanan Hill, the Head of the School spoke Carlyn noted, “the imagination you had in developing these panels, and working together as a community, creates a special gift.”  She continues, “the gift that Lamplighter has taught me is the value of community and working with my imagination.” At the conclusion of the dedication ceremony, Lamplighter Art Teacher Lizzie Bumpas presented a thank you card created by the Lamplighter Seniors to Carlyn Ray ’92.