Thousands of people drive by Acuity Insurance every day and glance in the galleria windows at the... Sneak preview of documenta
Thousands of people drive by Acuity Insurance every day and glance in the galleria windows at the immense glass sculptures that hang from the ceilings. Hundreds more walk below the glass installation called "Seven Sisters" and they all ask the same question: "How did they do that?"
Milwaukee Public Television will try to answer that question when its documentary, "Seven Sisters: A Robert Kuster Creation in Glass," airs at 7 p.m. Monday. An encore of the program will be shown at 10 p.m. Tuesday. Milwaukee Public Television is broadcast channels 10 and 36, or channels 3 and 10 on Charter Cable.
A sneak preview of the documentary will be shown as a fundraiser for MPTV at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Acuity, 2800 Taylor Drive. Cost for the event, which is open to the public, is $40 for members of Friends of Channel 10/36 and $75 for non-members. There will be a reception, a silent auction and a chance to meet Kuster.
Kuster, who was commissioned by Acuity to create the artwork during its $46 million expansion in 2004, didn't know exactly what MPTV planned to do with the footage they shot of him as he was working on the project.
"They came in for a couple days and filmed us when we were working," said Kuster, who owns Belle Mead Glass in Belle Mead, N.J. Crews also filmed Kuster's team as they hung the metal framework for the sculptures, as they installed the glass and as they finished up the project.
"It was an interesting project," said Raul Galvan, manager of program production at MPTV. "We are basically always looking for art projects and cultural projects to feature, but seldom do we have something as big, as creative, as unique as this to do something on — in our own backyard."
It took Kuster, his team of five artists and one welder eight months to create the 13,000 pieces of glass and install them on the hanging metal framework. The end result — in addition to being a showpiece for Acuity — is a milestone for Kuster.
"This was a David and Goliath project," Kuster said from his New Jersey studio. "We'd never done a project this large. I had real doubts whether I could do it. For me and my team, we have a great sense of pride. When I see it I get a real sense of grand scale and it kind of inspires me to do bigger and better things."
The three sculptures in the main galleria, which look from a distance like starbursts or fire balls, weigh 5,000 pounds each, are 15 feet in diameter and are constructed with red, yellow and orange glass. The other four "sisters" are made of blue, green, aqua and amethyst glass. They are 3,500 pounds and 12 feet in diameter.
According to Bret Blizzard at Acuity, the Seven Sisters was the largest glass installation in North America at the time it was mounted, and it probably still is.
"It was a high-water mark for me and something I get inspiration from," Kuster said. "I hope when other people see it, it inspires them to do better work, or to be able to accomplish something they didn't think they could accomplish."
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