Museum of the Big Bend
Alpine, Texas

Architect:
Rhotenberry Wellen Architects, Midland, TX

Museum of the Big Bend:
Larry Francell, Director

Dawn and Twilight
33" diameter each

German and French mouthblown glass, dichroic glass, lenses. lead crystal prism, lead and solder.

The openings into which these two stained glass windows are installed were originally louvered air-circulation vents. When renovation of this historic building began, the museum’s director saw this as an opportunity to do something special beneath the Main Exhibition Hall’s soaring, engineering-marvel of a ceiling. Although Dawn and Twilight are almost three feet in diameter, their location high in the east and west walls allow them to sparkle as unexpected jewels high above the new museum floor.

Although “cool” is a relative term, during the early and coolest hours of the day, rising sun projects warm, colorful patterns through Dawn onto interior surfaces. Similarly, cooler colors project through Twilight at the end of what are often hot, shimmering days in the Trans Pecos. If you look carefully and know your local geography, you might spot the Trans Pecos region of west Texas outlined by the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers. The location of the city of Alpine is highlighted with a facetted Austrian lead-crystal prism.

Twilight floats behind a scale model
of the once native pterosaur,
Quetzalcoatlus northropi