Dan DeRoux’s ‘Raindrops’ competes in national public art contest

Work by Juneau artist Dan DeRoux is in the midst of a competition that could earn him $10,000. The advocacy group Americans for the Arts nominated DeRoux’s “Raindrops” for the contest, which is driven by online votes.

"I got about three of them hung and there were all of the sudden a million reflections." -Dan DeRoux (Photo by Scott Burton/KTOO)
“Raindrops” at Gastineau Elementary School. “I got about three of them hung and there were all of the sudden, like, a million reflections,” said artist Dan DeRoux. (Photo by Scott Burton/KTOO)

The piece was installed at Gastineau Elementary School on Douglas in 2015.

It’s made up of mirrors and handmade tears of glass several feet long suspended from a hallway ceiling. A skylight illuminates the installation.

Dan DeRoux (Photo courtesy of Dan DeRoux)
Dan DeRoux (Photo courtesy Dan DeRoux)

“So when I actually got up there on the scaffolding, and had the mirror put in, and got up there and started hanging these pieces — I got about three of them hung and there were all of the sudden, like, a million reflections, “ said DeRoux. “It just was infinite, you know. And you’re standing up there inside a box of mirrors inside this light well — I just got real giddy.”

Deroux has about a dozen pieces of public art in Juneau. He says the most challenging part of this installation was creating the glass raindrops at a foundry in Ashland, Oregon.

“You have a big ball of molten glass on the end of a big rod and you have to drop it off, you have to make sure the neck is the right thickness that you want and still has a big lobe on the end,” said DeRoux. “But you have to stop it in midair. So, hot glass is dropping off of a pipe and you have to make it stop before it hits the ground. So it was really frustrating, as you might imagine, and I lost way more pieces than I made, by far.”

DeRoux said the most challenging part of the installation was creating the raindrops from molten glass. (Photo courtesy of Dan DeRoux)
DeRoux said the most challenging part of the installation was creating the raindrops from molten glass. (Photo courtesy Dan DeRoux)

“Raindrops” is among 101 works of public art in the contest that runs until Oct. 31. First, second and third prizes win $10,000, $5,000 and $1,000 respectively. KRIS Wines in Montagna, Italy, is sponsoring the competition.

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