Bayliss creates Cross of Light for Anderson Church
By Deborah Lilly
When Arlon Bayliss, professor of art and co-chair of the Department of Art and Design, was working on the campus glass sculpture of Helios 10 years ago, he realized he wasn’t working with glass as much as he was working with light. “Light is the most important aspect of all my work as a glass artist,” he explains. “It’s almost like light is my primary material and glass is my secondary material. I’m using glass to work with light.”
This is true of his latest creation, A Cross of Light, installed at the Christ Lutheran Church in Anderson. What makes this piece amazing is not only the glass making up the cross, but also the light reflecting from the pieces of glass onto the wall.
A Cross of Light is made up of 4-inch by 2 1/2-inch pieces of dichroic glass. Dichroic glass is unusual because while a piece of glass may be one color, its reflection is another color. Bayliss began the project with experiments in his home studio. Using the dichroic glass and light, he learned how to best use light to bring out the colors and reflections of the glass. He learned how to compose colors by controlling where he placed and how he angled each piece of glass.
With his experiments complete, he was ready to begin work at the church, with the help of his son, Harvey, other AU students, and friends. Because Bayliss wanted to install the lights behind the cross, they first built a freestanding wall. Behind the wall, Bayliss installed lights that would shine through carefully placed slits onto the dichroic glass on the other side. Over three days, he built the cross one piece of glass at a time with 12 different colors of glass to chose from.
“It was like painting, except instead of putting paint on, I’d put a piece of glass up.” Each piece of glass installed required another trip down the scaffolding for a serious look at how the color of the glass and the color of the reflection worked in the lineup.
“I think it’s nice to be able to find [a medium] that I don’t know anything about and then explore it, learn it, and play with it and do what I can do with it,” says Bayliss. Being a glass artist who’s teaching, he can rely on the stability of his teaching job while enjoying the freedom to pursue ambitious ideas with new materials. “If I were a professional, I’d probably do more of the same thing again and again and getting better at it because that’s how professionals become experts in their field. Especially in the arts you become known for a certain kind of work or a certain style.”
A Cross of Light has led to two other dichroic glass projects for Bayliss. He is one of three artists commissioned to create pieces for the new Indianapolis library, and he has been asked to submit a proposal for the new airport in Indianapolis.
