MALONE - Judge Robert Main Jr. on Thursday unveiled a stained-glass map of Saranac Lake that he commissioned, which will hang in the Franklin County Courthouse next to one of Malone.
"We have a lot of people that come through, and it's a very visible location," Main said at the unveiling.
The Malone map was created about two years ago, and it was raffled off as a fundraiser. The anonymous person who won it donated it to the courthouse so it can hang in public and be seen regularly. Main said the person must have known he was interested in it.
"Stained glass has always fascinated me," Main said.
Then, students from Tracy Edwards-Warren's New Visions government program at Franklin Academy, a school program that gives students hands-on experience with either government or medical professions, had some money left over from fundraisers when they graduated. They decided to donate $500 to the courthouse.
"They thought this would be a great way to say thank you," Edwards-Warren said. Plus they wanted to leave a mark on the courthouse, which she said had left a mark on them.
With that money, in addition to $750 from the Bev Quenville ArtReach Fund through Adirondack Community Trust, Main commissioned the Saranac Lake map to be added to the Malone one.
He said he'd like to continue to add more maps of other villages and towns within the county. He said he'd also like to see the courthouse grow from displaying just the maps to being a regular place to show other kinds of public art in the future.
Michael Hart, an artist who runs Pouring Light Studio in Malone, created both the Malone map and the Saranac Lake one, which he titled "Little City Nestled." He said he got the title from research he did for the piece.
"I saw the phrase 'Little City' more than once and thought, from my experience, it did have the vibrant, dynamic, elements of a city," Hart said. "'Nestled' addressed the setting of Saranac Lake (between numerous lakes) and softened the 'city' tag quite a bit."
The map features the roads of Saranac Lake, plus the railroad, county line and several other lineations, created with black lead lines, with a colored patchwork of glass panes filling in areas of land and blue, rippled glass filling in the lakes and other bodies of water.
Hart worked with a student from Franklin Academy to create each map. Lydia Mieses, an 18-year-old senior at Franklin Academy, said she put in about 16 hours over three months to help Hart create 'Little City Nestled.'
Hart said that while the Malone map required more problem solving, since it was the first one, he faced other challenges with the Saranac Lake one. He said he had to go on a more literal interpretation from an actual map, since he isn't as familiar with Saranac Lake as he is with Malone.
He said he likes stained glass as a medium because it started as a way to tell stories in churches, and he tries to use that idea in his work.
"The whole idea of public art, I just think it's fantastic," Hart said. "When I come up with an idea that touches people and really makes a connection, I say, 'Oh boy!' That's the kind of thing that gives the artist a kick."
