project overview

United | Hickory Ridge Middle School

This stain-glass work by Gordon Huether and students from local Memphis schools was the first public artwork in a Memphis City school made possible by the Memphis City School Board’s voluntary Percent for Art program.

In collaboration with the UrbanArt Commission and the Center for Arts Education, Huether worked with students of Kirby Middle School and Hickory Ridge Middle School to create the artwork during the Fall Semester of 2001. Huether worked with the students to design collages our of cut paper that he then transferred into glass panels. The 20 panels were installed in the serpentine glass wall of Hickory Ridge Middle School’s multi-purpose room. The colorful geometric shapes encourage an idea of play and imagination. 

About the Artist

Gordon Huether  

Gordon Huether was born in Rochester, NY in 1959 to German immigrant parents. Having dual citizenship in Germany and the U.S., Huether has spent much time traveling between both countries. Huether learned art composition and appreciation at an early age from his father. In the course of his initial artistic explorations, Huether was resolved to create a lasting impact on the world around him through the creation of large-scale works of art. He took a deliberate step towards this goal in 1987 when Huether founded his studio in Napa, CA. 

His experience in the realm of large-scale artwork generated the confidence to fashion fine art pieces with very personal content. Huether started experimenting with salvaged materials, found objects, and in contrast to these elements, items of polished and impeccable nature. While his core skills are in glass design, Huether also has extensive experience in working with many other media including steel, repurposing salvaged materials, resins, and composite materials. 

Huether’s work has been exhibited at museums and galleries, and collected across the United States, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. He has received more than 70 public art commissions and more than 175 private commissions.