Author: Rachael Que Vargas

Happiness Science and Museum Design: What Positive Psychology Reveals About Joyful Spaces

I. The Photograph You Will Not Remember A visitor stands in a gallery. She has spent twelve minutes in the space. Her phone has produced fourteen images. She cannot name a single other person in the room. She will upload the images tonight and return to her own life, and within six weeks the experience […]

Before the First Piece: Why Mosaic Had No Fine Art Museum — Until Now

Series Preface: A Substrate of Exclusion Before a mosaic artist places a single tessera, something has already happened. The artist has decided what the work means. Not what it depicts — what it means. What the choice of vitreous glass over marble says about light in this context. What the direction of the tesserae — […]

Designed to Fail

A History of Gender Inequality, Pay Disparity, and the Art/Craft Divide A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on a combination of primary institutional data, peer-reviewed research, major art market surveys, and journalism. Where possible, figures are cited to their original published sources. Readers are encouraged to verify current statistics independently, as the […]

The Geography of Exclusion

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on large-scale quantitative studies, peer-reviewed academic research, major art market surveys, and institutional workforce data. The primary statistical sources are the 2019 PLOS ONE study Diversity of Artists in Major U.S. Museums by Topaz et al. (Williams College); the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Ithaka S+R […]

The Unpaid Canvas: Economic Precarity and the Working Artist

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on multiple surveys, workforce studies, and institutional analyses. Primary data sources are: the National Survey of Artists (November 2025), conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, representing 2,618 artists nationwide in what researchers describe as one of […]

The Mosaic Record: A Global History of the Medium’s Institutional Erasure

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on primary historical sources, art-historical scholarship, museum studies literature, and the analytical writing of contemporary mosaic practitioners. The historiographical argument at the core of this report — that mosaic’s absence from canonical Western art history is a traceable consequence of specific material, institutional, and temporal accidents […]

What Institutions Are Worth: A Study in Museum Valuation and the Mosaic Market

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on auction records, primary market data, appraisal literature, and institutional policy documentation. Where auction figures are cited, they reflect published hammer prices and buyer’s premiums as reported in publicly available sale records. Where commission economics are discussed, the report draws on public art program documentation from […]

The Disability Gap: Chronic Illness, Access, and the Arts Economy

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on federal health surveillance data, workforce research, peer-reviewed literature, and published accounts from working artists. Health prevalence figures draw primarily on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report series, which represent the […]

The Collector Gap: Who Buys, Who Decides, and Why It Matters

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws principally on the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report series and the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting series, both authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew of Arts Economics. The Market Report, published annually in spring, provides macro-level analysis of global art market […]

The Grant Economy: Public Funding, Gatekeeping, and Who Gets Supported in the Arts

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on publicly available grant records and program descriptions from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the organizational literature of state arts councils, peer-reviewed research on arts philanthropy, and journalism covering the 2025 federal arts funding crisis. Budget figures and grant statistics are drawn from the […]

Made by Hand: Labor, Time, and the Devaluation of Technical Mastery

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on art historical scholarship, market research, and philosophical analysis. The construction of artistic genius as a masculine concept draws on Linda Nochlin’s foundational 1971 essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?,” Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock’s Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology (1981), and […]

Forensic Examination of Aesthetic Value in the Market: Ceramics, Textiles, and the Architecture of Fine Art Recognition

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on art market surveys, auction records, institutional histories, critical scholarship, and oral history sources where available. Primary statistical sources include the Art Basel and UBS Art Market Reports (2019–2025), the Burns Halperin Report (2022), Artsy market analyses, and the PLOS ONE museum collection study by Topaz […]

The Education Pipeline: How Art Schools Reproduce the Hierarchy

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) graduate enrollment and degree-completion data; National Endowment for the Arts workforce surveys (2019, 2022); the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) annual survey series on arts graduate career outcomes; the College Art Association (CAA) job listings database; the Association […]

The Language Problem: Mosaic, the Italian Critical Tradition, and the Art Press

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report is the merged and revised second version of two companion documents. The Language Problem — The Italian Critical Tradition v1.1 surveyed the structural conditions for a mosaic publications strategy with a focus on the anglophone and mainstream international art press: its archives, its training pipeline, its publication […]

Performative Inclusion: The Distinction Between an Institution and Its Simulacrum

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on a combination of primary institutional data, peer-reviewed research, major art market surveys, and journalism. Where possible, figures are cited to their original published sources. Readers are encouraged to verify current statistics independently, as the art market and workforce data evolve year on year. One source […]

The Missing Audience: Who Art Museums Keep Out and Why

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on the National Endowment for the Arts’ Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), the longest-running longitudinal study of American arts attendance, conducted at regular intervals since 1982 and most recently in 2022. It also draws on American Alliance of Museums field surveys, post-pandemic attendance […]

Museum Workers Made Invisible: The Labor the Art World Depends On

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on union documentation, institutional financial records, journalism, and academic labor research. Primary sources for the unionization campaigns described in Part III include AFSCME institutional publications and press releases, UVW campaign documentation, National Labor Relations Board filings, reporting by The Art Newspaper, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, and the […]

The Outsider Art System: Rescue Narrative, Extraction, and Who Decides

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on the documented histories of specific outsider art cases — principally those of Bill Traylor and Henry Darger — together with the founding texts of the outsider art category (Dubuffet’s Art Brut writings, Roger Cardinal’s Outsider Art, 1972), scholarship on the category’s economic and legal dimensions, […]

LGBTQIA+ Artists, Erasure, and the Founding Decision

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on prize-winning scholarship in Byzantine studies — principally Roland Betancourt’s Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2020) and Kathryn Ringrose’s The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium (University of Chicago Press, 2003) — together […]

Public Art and the Diminished Sense: Politics of Percent

A Note on Sources and Methodology This report draws on public policy documentation, historical analysis of federal and state arts funding programs, legal records from landmark public art controversies, workforce and economic data, and journalism. Where possible, figures are cited to their original published sources. Two source frameworks require specific acknowledgment. The National Assembly of […]

The Workshop Tradition: Mosaic, Collaborative Authorship, and Attribution History

A Note on a Key Source This report draws on a combination of primary institutional data, peer-reviewed research, major art market surveys, and journalism. Where possible, figures are cited to their original published sources. Readers are encouraged to verify current statistics independently, as the art market and workforce data evolve year on year. One source […]

How to Teach Artists, Not Art: The MME Instructional Framework

A Note on Sources and Methodology This document reflects the operational teaching framework that the Museum of Mosaic Environments has developed, tested, and refined since 2015. The framework emerges from practice in studio settings with students of mixed experience levels, and it incorporates established educational research confirming the effectiveness of its core methodologies. The research […]

Class, Craft, and the Tradesman’s Hand: The Class Argument

A Note on Sources and Methodology Claims rest on primary institutional records, documented art historical scholarship, and the body of evidence accumulated across A Substrate of Exclusion. Documentation of mosaic’s labor history is itself sparse — a condition this report treats not as a limitation but as evidence. Fields that are institutionally marginalized do not […]

The Sequence, Redrawn: How Digital Conditions Change the Strategy for Fine Art Recognition

Digital Conditions, Platform Logic, and MME’s Strategic Position in the Sequence A Note on Scope and Methodology This report is a strategic document, not a platform guide. It does not analyze specific social media applications, recommend particular tools, or make predictions about which digital channels will endure. Platforms are named only where necessary to illustrate […]

The Sense of Space: Proprioception and the Body in Museum Design

Second of eight reports in the MME Sensory Design Research Series Section I — How Spatial Sense and Proprioception Work The Proprioceptive System: An Overview Proprioception is the body’s continuous internal sense of its own position, movement, and orientation in space. It is distinct from the classical five senses in a fundamental way: it takes […]

The Sense of Smell: Olfactory Design in the Museum Environment

Fifth of eight reports in the MME Sensory Design Research Series Section I — How Smell Works The physiological path smell travels is unlike any other sense. When an odorant molecule enters the nasal cavity, it dissolves in the mucus layer overlying the olfactory epithelium — a small patch of specialized neuroepithelial tissue at the […]

The Museum Under Pressure: Guerrilla Strategies for the Culture Wars

Novel Revenue Strategies as a Defense When the State Wants Cultural Institutions Quiet A research brief documenting how US institutions are responding to federal funding collapse in 2025 — surfacing novel and scrappy revenue strategies from across the cultural sector, with specific attention to tactics that have not yet entered the mainstream museum playbook.The 2025 […]

Museum Activism in the United States

Threat-landscape analysis of museum activism in the United States amid the 2025 federal assault on American cultural institutions, with structural recommendations for the MME. I. Current Threat Landscape The year 2025 marked the most aggressive federal assault on American cultural institutions in the post-war period. The Trump administration moved simultaneously against four funding pillars — […]

The Retention Model for The Encounter Economy

How distributed audience encounter replaces concentrated sale as the primary mechanism of cost recovery — and why retention, not transaction, is the institution’s metric I. The Trap The economics of physical art have always been structured against the artist. Production costs are high and front-loaded. Materials, tools, space, and time — all paid before a […]

Statement to Structure: Museum Activism in Europe and Beyond

Comparative analysis of how non-US museum institutions have taken principled public positions, with structural lessons for MME governance and posture. On the evening of June 25, 2025, eight American scientists arrived at the University of Aix-Marseille. They had been recruited from Stanford, NASA, NIH, and Berkeley under a program called Safe Place for Science. The […]

From Style to Substance: A Methodology for Converting Cultural Capital into Durable Power.

A Methodology for Converting Cultural Capital into Durable Power This document draws on the analytical framework developed by Saida Grundy in “Trump Is Terrified of Black Culture. But Not for the Reasons You Think” (The Guardian, 22 June 2025). The intellectual debt is explicit and acknowledged throughout. Introduction Subcultures know how to survive. They build […]

Dawn— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Dawn, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Knotted Leather Cord6″ H x 5.5″ W x .5″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private collection.

On The Path— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

On The Path, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Knotted Leather Cord7.0625″ H x 4.25″ W x .5″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private collection.

Systole— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Systole, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Knotted Leather Cord4.5″ H x 5.75″ W x .5″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private collection.

Seeking— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Seeking, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp3.625″ H x 5.125″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Grass Spirit— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Spinal Spindle, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.75″ H x 3.125″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Mysterious Scripture— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Mysterious Scripture, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.25″ H x 7″ W x .5″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Ceremonial Dance— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Ceremonial Dance, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Knotted Leather Cord6.1255″ H x 3.375″ W x .5″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Plate Tectonics— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Plate Tectonics, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp6.625″ H x 6.5″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Diastole— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Diastole, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Knotted Leather Cord4.125″ H x 5.375″ W x .5″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private collection.

In Black and White— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

In Black and White, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp9.375″ H x 3.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Ball Lightning— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Ball Lightning, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp6.25″ H x 4.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Rain Dance— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Rain Dance, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Glass Trade Beads, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp10.75″ H x 4.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Musical Score— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant (Reversible)

Musical Score, 2023(Note: This pendant is reversible. It can be hung from either end.)Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp8.375″ H x 4.875″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Take Your Music To The Max— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Take Your Music To The Max, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.875″ H x 4″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Danse Lapin— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Danse Lapin, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7″ H x 3.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Hauteur— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Hauteur, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.75″ H x 3.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.75″ H x 3.875″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Equine Amity— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Equine Amity, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp8.125″ H x 4.375″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Cry of Mourning— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Cry of Mourning, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp6.75″ H x 4.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Spinal Spindle— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Spinal Spindle, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp8″ H x 3.5″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Contrapposto— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Siren, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp8.5″ H x 3.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Siren— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Siren, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.5″ H x 5.375″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Angel Lift— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Angel Lift, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.125″ H x 3.5″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Ursa Malabarista— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Ursa Malabarista, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.75″ H x 5.5″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Playful— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Playful, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.625″ H x 6.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Skydive— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Skydive, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.375″ H x 3.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Rhachis— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Rhachis, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.5″ H x 2.875″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Hold That Thought— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Hold That Thought, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp7.875″ H x 4.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Self Embrace— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Musical Score, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.125″ H x 3.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Private Collection

Sashay— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Sashay, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.25″ H x 23.625″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Twisted Elephant— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Twisted Elephant, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.375″ H x 4″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Condor— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Condor, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.875″ H x 4.125″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Flying Sideways— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Flying Sideways, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.75″ H x 3.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Forager— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Forager, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.625″ H x 3.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Cuspate— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Cuspate, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.875″ H x 2.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Fruitful Calm— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Fruitful Calm, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.5″ H x 2.125″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Hippocampus— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Hippocampus, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp3.25″ H x 2.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Herm— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Herm, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5.5″ H x 3.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Portage— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Portage, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.625″ H x 3″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Whirlwind— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Whirlwind, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.5″ H x 3.625″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark. Available in Shop.

Physique— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Physique, 2025Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Knotted Leather Cord5.125″ H x 3.375″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Bird Ghost— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Bird Ghost, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.75″ H x 4.75″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop.

Marsupial— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Marsupial, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp5″ H x 3.25″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in shop.

Industrial Fragment— Cold Forged Aluminum Pendant

Industrial Fragment, 2023Cold Forged Aluminum, Aluminum Wire, Waxed Cotton Cord with Lobster Claw Clasp4.125″ H x 2.375″ W x .08″ DStamped on back with artist’s mark.Available in Shop

Visual Arts for Secondary School, 2nd edition

Sieupersad, Allan, et al. Visual Arts for Secondary Schools, 2nd Edition. Hodder Education, 2025.

Mosaic Sign for Alden State Bank

Mosaic Sign For Alden State Bank, 2005Vitreous glass on Durock substrate in Powder Coated Steel Frame48″ H x 96″ W x 8″ DCommissioned by Alden State Bank This sign was the down payment for my first house and studio. I was leasing the buildings with an option to buy when heavy snow caused the studio […]

Acrobat Table and Chair Set

Acrobat Chairs and TableSteel, Copper, GlassDimensions VariablePrivate Collection

Acrobat Chair, Tango

Acrobat Chair, Tango, 2003Steel, copper34″ x 17″ x 14″Commission

Acrobat Chair, Play

Acrobat Chair, Play, 2003Steel, copper35″ x 17″ x 14″Commission

Acrobat Chair, The Leap

Acrobat Chair, The Leap, 2003Steel, copper33″ x 19″ x 14″Commission

Acrobat Chair, Flirting Couple

Acrobat Chair, Flirting Couple, 2003Steel, copper35″ x 17″ x 14″Commission

Acrobat Chair, Tumblers

Acrobat Chair, Tumblers, 2003Steel, copper33″ x 18″ x 14″Commission

Return To Childhood Rocking Chair

Return To Childhood Rocking Chair, 2003Wire Brushed Steel, Copper, Acrylic38″ x 32″ x 28″Private Collection

Jazz Cafe Table

Jazz Cafe Table, 2003Wire Brushed Steel, Copper, Glass34″ x 20″ x 20″Private Collection

Swing End Table

Swing End Table, 2003Wire Brushed Steel, Copper, Glass24″ x 20″ x 20″Private Collection

Dot! Chair in Red and Black

Dot! Chair in Red and Black, 2003Powder Coated Steel36″ x 14″ x 17″Private Collection

Dot! Chair in Yellow and Blue

Dot! Chair in Yellow and Blue, 2003Powder Coated Steel36″ x 14″ x 17″Private Collection

Exclusive Originals— One of a kind Sculptural Fire Features

Exclusive Originals are available only at the studio, or you can commission a design tailored exactly to your taste. Exclusive Originals are an edition of one, and you are guaranteed to have the only fire sculpture like it. My Classic Sculptural Firebowls are signed and numbered in an open edition. As the artist, I draw […]

Little Miss Exuberance, 2003

Little Miss Exuberance, 2003Steel, Granite, Copper74″ x 27″ x 12″Collection of the artist

Akimbo, 2003

Akimbo, 2003Steel, Granite, Copper80″ x 38.5″ x 12″Private Collection Back of sculpture Detail of sculpture back

Lookout, 2003

Lookout, 2003Granite, Steel35″ x 24″ x 12″Private Collection

Signal, 2003

Signal, 2003Steel, Granite, Copper61″ x 27″ x 12″Private Collection Detail of the back of the figure

Sentinel, 2002

Sentinel, 2002Granite, Steel32″ x 40″ x 8″Private Collection

Curious Child, 2002

Curious Child, 2002Granite, Steel36″ x 34″ x 8″Private Collection

Lightning Moon Man, 2003

Lightning Moon Man, 2003Steel, vitreous glass20″ x 16″ x 7.5″Private Collection

Custom Easter Brazier for St James and St Leo

Joseph Michniewicz commissioned a custom brazier for Easter Vigil at St. James and St. Leo Catholic church in Solana Beach, CA. The church is on the coast of California just north of San Diego. The modernist architecture of St. James is open and bright with various motifs of shells throughout including a giant clam shell […]

St. Jerome Catholic Church Celebrates Las Posadas

St. Jerome Catholic Church in Largo, Florida Florida celebrates Las Posadas with the Phoenix + Flames Sculptural Fire Pit.

Easter Vigil Fire Feature for St. Jerome Catholic Church

St. Jerome Catholic Church in Largo, Florida lights the Paschal candle from the Easter Fire in the Phoenix + Flames Sculptural Fire Pit.

Customized Easter Vigil Fire Feature for St. Lawrence Catholic Church

Fr. Jeff Shooner commissioned a customized version of the Phoenix + Flames Sculptural Fire Pit for St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Louisville, KY. The photo above is from the first ceremony in 2010. In his email, Fr. Shooner wrote: I have been looking for something exactly like this. We are renovating our church and want […]