Born and raised in Yonkers, NY, artist Laurel Porcari is a resident and active community member of New Orleans. Bullseye’s connection to Laurel began in 2003 when our Director of Research and Education, Ted Sawyer, met her while assisting a Warren Langley workshop at Pilchuck Glass School. Laurel had just graduated from Tulane University and was at Pilchuck on a partner scholarship. Ted found her to be quite impressive. After this first meeting, Laurel began working with Bullseye glass pretty quickly.
Our relationship with the artist deepened when Hurricane Katrina destroyed Laurel’s home city and she came to stay with us. During this time Laurel interned, helped teach classes, and test products and processes while her hometown tried to recover.
Back in New Orleans, Laurel Porcari continued to work with Bullseye material and built a successful art glass practice. After coming to us a few times for potential projects, we finally had the chance to work on a large-scale artwork together. She won a commission to design a strong identity piece for Montefiore Medical Center in New York. The piece, We Are Stardust (see above photo), is a laminated, free-standing, interior glass and steel sculpture weighing approximately 2000 pounds. This work is evidence of Laurel’s New York roots and her understanding of the patient population in the Bronx, one of the most diverse counties in America. We Are Stardust is about our human connectedness and shared place in the universe.
The commissioning bodies at Montefiore were so taken with the piece that they requested a second work in the series, which culminated in the creation of Our Celestial Bodies.