The look and feel of this window was inspired by old star maps. The stark white depictions of the constellations is set against the deep blue of the night sky. The star points comprising the constellations were often amplified as actual star shapes. To achieve a similar look, I used a mixture of clear glasses, semi transparent opalescent white, and striated white glass with a rich multi tonal blue that has the tiniest bubbles in the glass - that to me looked like far away stars. Add to all of this some little 8 points stars, et voila! While this was a custom commission, the subject matter is close to my heart. I grew up gazing at constellations with my father and the Pleiades was one of the first that I learned to spot on my own. I was always so fascinated with the ‘sisters’ and their story and felt a mix of sadness for their banishment to the heavens and comfort that they could be together forever.
Taurus In the Northern Hemisphere, the bull charges through the sky from November to March, but the constellation's at its most visible in January.
Taurus is one of the 48 constellations cataloged by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. Its name means “bull” in Latin. It is an ancient constellation dating back to the Bronze Age, where it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Depictions of the constellation have been found in cave paintings dating back to 15,000 BC.
In Greek mythology it is believed to represent the story of Europa, a Phoenician Princess and the white bull named Taurus. The story goes that one day Europa saw a majestic white bull grazing near her father's herd. The bull was actually Zeus in disguise. After allowing Europa to climb on its back, the bull whisked her off to Crete where he made her his mistress.
The Pleiades The Pleiades is an open cluster of about 500 stars, six of which are visible to the naked eye. All of these stars formed from the same cloud of gas about 100 million years ago. The seven brightest stars are named after the seven daughters of Atlas, the titan who holds up the sky. Maia, Electra, Taygete, Celaeno, Alcyone, Sterope, and Merope.
One myth recounts that they all killed themselves out of grief over the death of their sisters, the Hyades. Another explains that after being relentlessly pursued by Orion, they were turned into a flock of doves and sent into the heavens by Zeus. Zeus also caused Orion to become a constellation, and so he continued to pursue the sisters across the sky. The faintest star of the Pleiades was thought to be either Merope, who was ashamed of loving a mortal, or Electra, grieving for Troy.