Sunshine enters the back windows of Viki Keating's Riva home and penetrates an assemblage of colored glass. As light is refracted from every angle, Keating thinks back to her childhood. She wanted to be an artist for as long as she can remember.
In high school, she used her artistic flair as a floral arranger, and after graduating from an Indiana art institute, she worked mostly with paints and ceramics. But it was an art class in 1980 that introduced Keating to her true calling: glass.
"After I took that one class, I was hooked," she says.
Today Keating, 57, is a renowned glass artist, creating architectural and fused glass pieces and inspiring local communities with her love of the medium. Her most recent project, adding to her continuing work in community beautification, is a 500-pound mosaic trash can commissioned by the Highlandtown Community Association.
Keating's first community beautification project was in 1991, when her children, Heather and Aran, were attending Davidsonville Elementary. Their art teacher had a project with a local artist that fell through, and asked Keating for her involvement. That year, Keating completed a mural with the students and became registered with the state's Artists-in-Residence program, an initiative that provides funding for educational workshops.
Keating remains involved with the program, and her projects decorate the walls and windows of more than 20 schools in Howard, Montgomery and Anne Arundel counties.
For her window projects, Keating allows each student to create a pane that she fashions into a window that remains in the school. Some of Keating's favorite projects include the windows she completed at Annapolis Elementary, including the entrance window with a crab and state flag theme, and a hallway window with different trees shown in the four seasons.
"The kids love it," Keating says. "The kids are great because they come up with things you wouldn't expect them to because they've never seen the medium before."
In addition to brightening local schools, Keating has a glass piece displayed at the entrance to the Arundel Olympic Swim Center and her most recent work, the colorful trash can that graces the corner of East and Eastern avenues in Baltimore.
Keating became involved in the Highlandtown beautification project after her husband, Tim, responded to an ad on Craig's List. Kevin Bernhard, a board member for the community association, was seeking artists interested in dedicating their time and talent. After seeing samples of Keating's work, Bernhard invited her to complete one of the eight cans planned for the neighborhood.
