''Roots of Knowledge'' is a permanent stained glass display completed in 2016 at

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

(UVU) in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Utah, Provo, Lindon, Utah, Lindon, and Vineyard, Utah, Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the pri ...

, United States. The creation of the exhibit was designed and overseen by stained glass artists Tom Holdman and Cameron Oscarson. It took over 12 years and cost US$4.5 million to complete.

Description

The Roots of Knowledge is a permanent

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

exhibit in the Ira A. and Mary Lou Fulton Library at

in the United States. It is long, about tall, and comprising 80 separate panes. Each of the panels was handcrafted from over 43,000 pieces of glass depicting part of the progress of human knowledge during recorded history. The exhibit depicts both religious and secular events and objects. In addition to the stained, blown, fused, and carved glass used for most of the window, other objects were incorporated into the display. These included a shark's tooth, part of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, a

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

medal, a $5 bill from 1777, and glass from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

. Part of the window incorporates a replication of the oldest stained glass known: a window created in 647 AD at The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Monkwearmouth–Jarrow in England. Roots of knowledge from above

History

The idea to create the stained glass exhibit began in 2004. For the next 12 years, Holdman and Oscarson worked to design and create the 80 panels included in the final exhibit. Each panel was handcrafted by the original designers, Tom Holdman and Cameron Oscarson, who worked with over 350 student artists, 26 faculty members, and 40 other artists during the construction of the exhibit. The US$4.5 million project was funded through private donations, including through sponsorships of individual pieces of glass. It was officially unveiled on November 18, 2016, as part of the 75th anniversary of the university.

Reception

The installation was described as a "tour de force" by the curator of ceramics and glass at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The windows have been compared to those in several European cathedrals, including the

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (, , officially , English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to the Catholic Church. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archd ...

in Germany,

Sainte-Chapelle The Sainte-Chapelle (; ) is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France. Construction b ...

in France, and

York Minster York Minster, formally the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The minster is the seat of the archbishop of York, the second-highest of ...

in England. The

Utah Education Network The Utah Education Network (UEN) is a broadband and digital broadcast network serving public education, higher education, applied technology campuses, libraries, and public charter schools throughout the state of Utah. The Network facilitates inte ...

worked with Holdman and UVU to create

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

and

field trip A field trip or excursion is a journey by a group of associated peers, such as coworkers or school students, to a place away from their normal environment for the purpose of education or leisure, either within their country or abroad. When ar ...

s based on the project. The project is the subject of a one-hour documentary created for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Lee Groberg Lee B. Groberg (born 1951) is a documentary filmmaker and Latter-day Saint. Many of his films focus on Latter-day Saint history, while others focus on Utah history or the Olympics. Groberg was born and raised in Farr West, Utah. His first films ...

References

{{Orem, Utah 2016 works Stained glass Monuments and memorials in Utah Utah Valley University Tourist attractions in Utah County, Utah