Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Dale Lang, 2022.

Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Dale Lang, 2022 (detail).

Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Dale Lang, 2022 (detail).

Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Dale Lang, 2022 (detail).

Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Dale Lang, 2022 (detail).

Artwork copyright Jack Archibald. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Dale Lang, 2022.

Portal, 2022

Jack Archibald
(American, born 1950)

Location: Stanwood High School, Stanwood

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Jack Archibald's Portal symbolizes the idea that a library is a gateway to our future as well as a window on our past. Its imagery suggests a doorway that invites you to step into the infinity of imagination. Archibald describes the design as “intentionally futuristic, a teleportation device for journeys beyond old expectations into a brave new world, one where these young people will truly be the first to go where no one has gone before.”

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Stanwood-Camano School District.

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.