Mysterious Hanging Glass Panes: NHS Wowzerwall Chandelier

Sunshine fills the room, and beautiful art pieces hang in a circle of creativity.

There are eight beautiful glass art pieces hanging in the LBCC Albany North Santiam Hall. They are collectively named the “Wowzerwall Chandelier.”

Wowzerwall is an acronym for “Walls of Wonder Zestfully Executed by Roy.”

The Roy in Wowzerwall is a retired Roy McFadden of “Roy McFadden Design Inc.”  Roy McFadden graduated from the Los Angeles Art College of Design in 1972.

Each chandelier piece is engraved with a famous quote accompanied by artwork pieces done by an LBCC student.

McFadden and his company translated these students’ artwork as a “computer-cut-transit,” so that they could be etched into the angled 1/2″ clear acrylic sheets. McFadden used a method called sand blasting which engraved the art pieces.

The famous quotes include one from Duke Ellington reading “I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.”   

One faculty member, Karelia Stetz-Waters, whose office is just down the hall, said that, “It has always been a part of the landscape.”

The artwork pieces were built in 2006, along with the building.

“Sometimes when you’re alone in the room, you can hear it creaking like someone is walking. It has always creeped me out,” said Stetz-Waters.

Story by Constance Jones

Photo by Elliot Pond