Endeavor
Lino Tagliapietra
Hand blown glass
Fondren Library Main Entrance
Gift of Elizabeth and Albert Kidd
Endeavor consists of nine colored, blown-glass “boats” that cascade from the ceiling of Fondren Library. As Endeavor was Tagliapietra’s first university-commissioned piece, he considered the location within the library very carefully. He perceives library spaces as “passageways for knowledge,” and in turn views the “boats” as providing passage to groundbreaking ideas and research for all who work in the space. While all the “boats” are of equal size, each one has different coloring and detail work. The boats also recall the form of the long, thin gondolas of his native Venice. Endeavor was the first commissioned work completed for the Rice Public Art Program.