In the winter of 2011 I was short listed and then chosen to create the Welcome Sign for Troy Hill. Troy Hill is in a lovely setting - on a hill - overlooking Pittsburgh from the North Side. Originally a German community known for some historic landmarks, as well as having a lot of pigs running up and down the hill to the slaughter houses- Initially I proposed a traditional German accordion player. After a few months of community process with several rowdy community meetings, strong opinions and loud discussions -and several design changes - a final design was settled on. Some folks wanted the famous landmarks, some folks wanted some pig imagery, and some did not. The challenge for me was to figure out a way to address the various visual requests of the community and still have an artistically interesting composition.

Folks often want their landmarks-I figured out a way to duplicate a skyline of them at the bottom of the sign-From photos I will create the feeling of the buildings with glass and mosaics-should be beautiful-I will create -with fused and cut glass-a sea of plants and flowers (and maybe some birds and bugs)-that will rise above the building -nestling the welcome text. In lieu of this commission and for upping my abilities I took a one week intensive -fused glass course at the Pittsburgh Glass Center-and will now be able to create some of the compositions with beautiful fused glass techniques.