Travel journal: "Roots of Knowledge" stained glass

"Roots of Knowledge" stained glass art

at the Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
http://rootsofknowledge.com/rok/

Epic. Incredible. Gorgeous. 

To appreciate this wonderful creation was a humbling and uplifting experience!

This stained glass art displays the richness of human endeavor and progress
painted and pieced together over a twelve year project
eighty intricate, meticulously hand painted, detailed panels
installed into a concave wall of the modern and elegant main library

Roots of Knowledge will anchor an undulating wall of windows at UVU’s library entrance comprising 80 individual panes totaling 10 feet in height and 200 feet in length.

Collaborative effort between the university president, Holdman Studios and over forty artists.

Conceived by Utah artist Tom Holdman and Utah Valley University President Matthew S. Holland, Roots of Knowledge combines the work and guidance of 40+ professional artists, 26 UVU scholars, and more than 350 UVU students, as well as Roots Media, which is filming a documentary of the project.

Plato and Socrates

Renaissance

King John (?) and the Magna Carta

Music and Science

Development of writing.

Sun Tzu's Art of War
孫子兵法

OMG, top left 'Where the Wild Things Are!'
How did you get on there!? You lovable manster!

'0.99999999 = 1'

Age of Invention

The first panel of the exhibition shows the origin of man represented by a mythical tree. Perhaps Eve, picking from the Tree of Knowledge, or a forest naiad on great Yggdrasil, or the cosmic tree Asvattha, or any variant of the tree motif. http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Tr-Wa/Trees-in-Mythology.html

origins of man represented by a tree

The last panel shows a little girl, book in hand, striding alone into the future.

On her dress is written a poem by 13th century Persian poet, Rumi:

Its your road, and yours alone.
others may walk it with you,
but no one can walk it for you

With the cosmos ahead of her and bright planets lighting up a dark universe from which we came, to which we go searching for an unknown future ahead of us. White wisps and tendrils obscuring the path below her feet. Strong, brave, with the wisdom of all the generations of mankind at her back she leads.



Kinda makes this other stained art piece above the library look like crap. Hahaha.