CHARLOTTE, NC.- Architectural glass artist Paul Housberg has created a site-specific, permanent public art installation for 101 North Tryon, a newly renovated building at the historic intersection of Trade and Tryon in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina. This large-scale glass piece, which serves as the exterior façade of the building’s main entrance, honors the historic significance of its location while celebrating the city’s robust commitment to contemporary art and culture. Housberg worked closely with Wagner Murray Architects, Charlotte, NC, to design a work of art that would bring a timeless elegance to the newly renovated site.

Trade and Tryon is a famed intersection in Charlotte. It is known as Independence Square after the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which many believe was the first declaration of independence made in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. Today, it is the heart of Charlotte’s City Center, hopping with business, art, and restaurants. Featuring cut and laminated mouth-blown glass, Housberg’s 25’ x 14’ glass installation is deliberately abstract, referencing fragmented memories of decades past layered with the shimmering colors of the urban present. By day, the glass panels reflect surface light; after dark, they are backlit with 50,000 LED lights, peacefully yet vibrantly welcoming the city’s nightlife. Housberg notes, “As I worked with architect David Wagner in the design process, we considered not only the identity of the building itself, but the remarkable context in which it is situated. We aimed to install a signature piece that would honor the intersection’s historic past, while imbuing it with a new colorful liveliness at all hours of day and night.”

Paul Housberg creates site-specific works in glass for corporate, hospitality, healthcare and public environments. Central to his work are the tactile qualities of glass and the expression of its materiality. Born in New York City, Housberg studied painting early in his career, but was drawn to glass for its atmospheric color. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the Rhode Island School of Design. Later, as a Fulbright Scholar, Housberg pursued his art at the International Center of Glass Research (CIRVA) in Marseille, France. He has created art glass installations for Princeton University, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, Salt Lake City, and Boston Logan Airport, among others. Housberg is based in Jamestown, RI. To see more of his work, please visit https://www.glassproject.com.