Client: Mrs. Chauncey Dewey

Overview

“Ice Pool” started as a sculpture. This piece was inspired at the time I was building my house in Portsmouth Rhode Island. The basement and foundations were started in February. The earth had multiple pockets and pits which would fill up with water, then freeze over at night, unfreeze in the day and then refreeze again. This created bubbles and successive layers of ice.

Goals

While on show in my gallery in Paris, one of my customers, looking for an original coffee table asked me to develop this idea as a table. So it turned into this: the last layer of glass is black which gives extra depth to the "Pool" effect. The square base of plate glass allows the table to be lit from below. (Solar-powered lamps work great as there is no need for wiring across the floor.)

Process

The table was executed by Rita Riccardi in New York City. The nine layers of plate glass are kept separate (not glued) otherwise the weight poses a problem if the piece needs to be moved.