P1 - Jessica Tenenbaum

[jtenenbaum]

During the Italian Renissance it was common for families to commission artists to create pieces for a family chapel. For this project I have created a stained glass window that would be apart of a chapel commissioned by my family during this era. This project represents my family in a way true to the Italian Renaissance as is inspired by the churches and stained glass windows around Florence, borrowing shapes, patterns, and colors. I have picked symbols important to my heritage as well as depicted a general scene with the sky and grass. The tree dead center has multuple meanings, one being that my last name, Tenenbaum, is a type of tree. The second being the idea of a family tree with many branches. The third and final reason that I will share is that it’s about putting your roots somewhere. This idea is important to me because my family, both my mother and father’s side, have very strong roots in Chicago and I am proud to continue that tradition. Up top there is a sun, taken directly from the Uruguay flag. My father and his family immigrated from Uruguay to American in the 1990s and my hispanic heritage is an important part of my upbringing. Directly below is a shield, taken from an old coat of arms from Lithuania that was used during the time my maternal ancestors were living there. Surrounding this shield and trees are rays, depicting the way many branches of my family have spread out across the world but we remain connected. In the bottom middle there is a scale, as my family has always stood for truth, equality, and justice.