Crowd-Sourced Art Piece Will Tell the Glass City Story

Local History News  |  Posted by: Tedd Long  |  10/13/2022

The Arts Commission is launching an immersive public art project to provide a unique channel for the community to share Toledo’s history of glassmaking with future generations. Field of Histories, to be installed by late 2023, will consist of 175 glass orbs on posts, in which significant objects provided by the community will be scanned and laser engraved inside. The project will also link to an online catalog of audio and/or written recordings of personal histories gathered at the workshop.

On Sunday, October 30th, Metroparks Toledo and The Arts Commission is hosting a community event at Glass City Metropark from 12 pm-4 pm to begin collecting and curating content for the incoming art piece, which is being created by artist Bryony Roberts who was selected from five finalists following a call to artists from all over the country in the winter of 2021. 

Community members are invited to bring up to two objects that have personal significance and represent part of Toledo's history, to be considered for the project. Now, you might be asking yourself, what object expresses a unique story about the history of the Glass City? Or, what object captures some of the cultural experiences of my neighborhood or my community? According to project planners, this could be an object from the industrial history of glass manufacturing, a decorative object particular to your cultural community, or a homemade object that expresses personal craft. Planners are particularly interested in stories about Toledo that haven’t been told yet, and that helps this project reflect the full breadth of experiences in the Glass City. 

For more information about this project and the upcoming community event, click here to visit the Arts Commission website.