The title of this chandelier is in honor of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French Jesuit priest, paleontologist, and philosopher who discovered Peking Man. Chardin specifically conceived the idea of Noosphere. The Noosphere is represented by the geometric platonic solids imagery at the top of the chandelier, and evolves in to the highly organic shapes found at the bottom. The chandelier is made of steel, antique Italian chandelier parts, and contemporary glass pieces that have been cold worked, sand blasted, slumped, draped and torch worked. The chandelier is lit with small LEDs in the antique portion of the work. It is approximately thirteen feet at its widest point and descending from the ceiling close to forty feet.
The antique chandelier was discovered by Marjorie and Cynthia Madden on a trip to Italy in 1982, and remained in storage until being incorporated in to this new work. The Chandelier Chardin was designed by Lonnie Hanzon and fabricated by Bella Glass.

From the Museum of Outdoor Arts

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