Project Data
Project Description‘Blue Sun’ Hanging Mobile for H&R Block Headquarters
In 2006, H&R Block commissioned artist Dierk van Keppel to produce a custom glasswork in the new headquarters for their downtown office in Kansas City. Blue Sun is a blown and fused glass mobile, hung in an aluminum armature.
Zahner worked in both an art fabricator capacity, as well as a collaborator to Dierk Van Keppel. Keppel used glass blowing and fusing to create a number of fused glass pieces in flat form.
Zahner cut the glass and produced the frames and stainless steel armatures for the artwork. Zahner also provided engineering-design to create the sculpture’s balance and leveling mechanisms that keep the mobile stable.
Dierk studied art glass at the University of Kansas from 1983 to 1987, assisting with lectures and demonstrations for artists including Dale Chihuly, Stephen D. Edwards, Ken Carder, Fritz Driesbach, and Wes Hunting.
In 1984, Dierk studied under Richard Marquis and Thermon Statom at Pilchuck Glass Studio in Stanwood, WA, joining the staff at Pilchuck in 1985. In 1986, Dierk founded his first private glass studio, Free State Glass, in Lawrence, KS. In 1991, the artist moved closer to his hometown near Kansas City, and established Rock Cottage Glassworks in Merriam, Kansas.
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