As I was leaving Paulette’s studio, my eye was caught by this lovely streetcar in the window:

Not only does Lizano’s Glass Haus sell these lovely streetcars, there are rumors that some of them will be auctioned at the YLC event when the Streetcar Named Inspired cars are auctioned, too!

For the barn, she and her parents (who collectively own Lizano’s Glass Haus) individually cut and grind (or shape) each strip of glass.  After the cutting and shaping, each piece is painted to mimic wood grain; this is done with pulverized glass in paint form, the small rivets are placed using glass frit, and then it is kiln-fired to 1380°.

For the animals, paper patterns are first made.  Then the animals are cut out of glass and layered to achieve the right dimension.  They to are kiln-fired to 1380° to keep the dimensional quality.

The roof is made with iridescent glass to give it a metallic feel.  It resembles a New Orleans slate roof.  And for the billboards on the side of the car, a stencil was first made.  From there the billboards are sandblasted onto the glass, then painted, fired in the kiln, and put in place.

The sponsor of this unique streetcar is AT&T.  In order to personalize the streetcar for AT&T, the Lizanos have incorporated some telecommunication apparatus to some of the passengers.  There will be traditional phones, antique phones, operator head set, cell phones, as well as a lap top and a television.

In the end, the entire car will be covered in glass then grouted for a finished look. Stay tuned as we follow the completion of this car in the following weeks.

What inspired Lori about New Orleans in designing this streetcar (she’s also submitted food and music themed designs) is to showcase the wonderful scenic experiences found in Louisiana.

 Lori’s work can be seen at LoriGomezArt.com, and can be reached at LoriGomezArt@charter.net.

Her New Orleans-inspired streetcar design puts a Louisiana swamp and forest on wheels:

Her work can be seen at Fort Isabel Gallery in Covington and at CarolHallock.com and can be reached at crhpaints@aol.com.

Originally trained as a portrait artist, Linda branched out into oil painting several years ago and has had numerous one-person shows in galleries in New Orleans. She has also been juried in as a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for many years where her collectors can find her interpretations of the cultural and musical life that is unique to Louisiana.

Linda Lesperance has submitted music-and food-inspired streetcar designs. Visit her at Jazzfest this year, and also at lindalesperance.com.

Here’s Linda’s idea for a foodie streetcar, images of the chefs she’s listed will be placed on the streetcar once permissions are secured.

What about New Orleans inspired Jerome’s streetcar designs? Food and music. Here’s what Jerome has to say about his New Orleans food-inspired streetcar:

“[I was] reminded of rides on the streetcar to visit the zoo [and] stopping by Mom’s and family gatherings.” His design features a “family menu for a typical week growing up in New Orleans,” and a view of the Crescent City Connection from the downtown side. He says the other side of the streetcar will be a view from the uptown side of New Orleans with similar dishes on the weekly menu. Crabs and shrimp will be featured on the uptown side.

Here is “New Orleans Flava”:

Jerome’s music-inspired streetcar design came when he “started off thinking about the good times at parties on the streetcar. Since we have a special way of having a good time in New Orleans because of the musical heritage passed down by great musicians, both known and unknown, I decided to feature Jelly Roll Morton. Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marsalis & Kermit Ruffins. Today there are high school students performing for the public at the end of the streetcar line. I feel it’s also honoring the culture they are preserving for future generations.”

This is “Roll With Me”:

Jerome can be reached via email at returningnolaartist@yahoo.com.

Lizano took part in the YLC’s 2000 Festival of Fins, and is teaming up with the YLC again to take on a streetcar. Her medium of choice? Glass! What inspires her about New Orleans are the streetcars themselves; she named her creation after the man whose company manufactured the cars still operating on the St. Charles line, Perley A. Thomas. Where do streetcars live when not in service? In the streetcar barn–thus her fun and whimsical barnyard party theme. In her own words,

[T]his streetcar is a depiction of a barn, where streetcars are housed and each individual passenger is a fun-loving farm animal. . . . Passengers will be turkeys, geese, sheep, cows, horses, bulls, donkeys and other typical farm animals. The theme was derived partly as whimsy and partly to attract children’s attention to both the community project and the revitalization of the streetcars and their return after Hurricane Katrina. My streetcar will come to life. . . . The colors chosen are lively and vivid and the design will be executed in glass. Each individual character will be fused glass, by which it will be kiln-formed and dimensional to a certain extent. All glass pieces will be affixed to the form much like a mosaic.I am inspired by the perseverance of the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region. After the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, it is the love for New Orleans that inspires me to do this community art project and give something back. Something light-hearted and whimsical. Color, movement and light inspire me…Music, cultural differences, Mardi Gras, the French Quarter, architecture, beating of drums, art all are forms of inspiration. . . . recycling and salvage yards inspire me, to take something old and make new again, and give it new life. Glass is my artistic medium, I find fascination in being able to create from large sheets of glass and transform them into mosaics and eye-catching stories. The movement and grain in the glass is daily inspiration for me as an artist. I hope that my streetcar inspires others to explore this great city we live in, to learn about its history, its culture, its diversity and its endless inspirations. I am proud to call New Orleans home!!!

Sounds like it’s going to look pretty bling-bling in the sunlight.

Visit Lizano’s Glass Haus to learn more about Paulette Lizano’s work and her family’s glass studio.

Here’s some of what Procopio has to say about his design:

Looking at the stark white model streetcar, which is about 6′ long, I thought immediately of a casket. Somewhere in my mind I decided I’d incorporate a face and the insinuation of a body on the top along with the hands, perhaps to allude to a wake. But I left that idea open.

The next idea was that I would cover the windows and doors with plywood. As I already work on plywood this wasn’t hard to come up with. I realized that this would officially begin to make the piece a hurricane Katrina statement, so I decided that somewhere I would include the spray-painted “X” that we all came home to discover on all of our homes. This governmental graffiti is one of the more poignant symbols now associated with this disaster, as it tells who searched the house and the date of the search, the number of dead bodies, the number of dead animals, and any other information such as “dog seen under house.” In fact, plywood, garage doors, brick walls, discarded refrigerators . . . these all became community bulletins boards for the survivors. . . .

I decided that to cover ALL of the pieces of plywood with text and search-party X’s would be too much. I opted instead to do portraits. No one in particular, just faces of people you might see here. This would insinuate people sitting as passengers in the car, only there would be something slightly creepy about having them painted on wood to represent would-be passengers. Then the idea of Fayum Portraits popped into my head. In Egypt, signifying Greco-Roman influence, Fayum portraits were the faces of the deceased painted onto wooden panels which would be affixed to the sarcophagi. . . .

I then had the idea to have a water-line. One of the other creepy things about the neighborhoods we gutted houses in were the water-lines. These were mud-colored racing stripes running horizontally across the faces of all the houses showing where the water level had been. There were usually at least three distinct lines. . . one at or above the door jamb, one just under it and one just under that. For design reasons I decided to make actually water rather than the line where the water would have been. This solved a problem about color. Anything below this line would be a sort of aqua green, above it a darkish blue.

Go read more about Procopio’s sketch at his website here.