Swallows at Dusk

by John Francis

J. Francis Lead & Glass Co.

30" x 15", copper foil central panel with lead came border

This piece was specifically designed to enhance the entryway of the owners and will display in a large floor to ceiling window adjacent to the home's main entrance.  The image depicts swallows in graceful flight, both coming and going from their space, a metaphor of course for the way the family members come and go from their home in the course of daily life.  Swallows are highly symbolic creatures, and throughout history have been seen as a totem of good fortune, a symbol of safe travel, and safe return.  In addition, because swallows choose but one mate, and mate for life, they have also come to stand for the ideals of loyalty and selfless love.

The abstracted flower shapes in the foreground are also symbolic, serving to represent the members of this family.  Flowers were chosen to convey the blessings of family, children, relationships, and at the same time the cycles we are all subject to.

I personally like the way the shapes of the flowers are mimicked in the swallows' postures.  It almost appears as though the flowers are transforming into the swallows, or vice versa.