Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

The Moon was a River, 1998

Jack Archibald
American (born 1950)

Location: Department of Transportation - Spokane Engineers Office, Spokane

About the Artwork

Artist Jack Archibald created the stained-glass window The Moon was a River as part of a body of work that explores transitioning light as a subject. He is interested in stylized and animated symbols. Archibald notes, "Organic shapes evolve from geometric forms, and just as light metamorphoses through the day, the windows too have a kinetic energy. The windows celebrate movement and light, transformation and vitality." This artwork also hopes to capture the "poetic notion" of the artwork's title in glass.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Department of Transportation.

About the Artist

Glass artist Jack Archibald uses light to animate the colors and abstract shapes in his stained glass artworks. In his own words, "As a stained glass artist, I work with light. Glass is uniquely interactive with light, its transitions, its intensities, its colors. Throughout the day, a window constantly undergoes transformation. The changing light animates the glass."

Archibald earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (1972) from the University of Wisconsin. In 1981, he established the private studio called "Revisionary Glassworks" on Camano Island, on North Puget Sound, Western Washington.