As Broward County prepares to welcome a gleaming new expansion to its convention center in Fort Lauderdale, a prominent artist has been commissioned by the Broward County Public Art & Design Program to enhance the project with a sense of place.
British artist Martin Donlin’s contemporary approach to stained glass has made him a coveted source of art for civic institutions across the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. Hospitals, universities, convention centers have called on him, and he’s even taken commissions from a few churches.
Taking a form of art with religious associations and giving it a modern spin, Donlin’s approach to stained glass incorporates abstraction and the written word.
One project that typifies the artist’s style, also one of his largest undertakings, is a series of windows installed at Indianapolis International Airport. Poetry gathered from local writers floats against various color fields and rounded geometric shapes, split into grids by the way the glass panels are arranged. The project creates an evocative and peaceful atmosphere ideal for public space, especially at a stressful place like an airport. The 14 windows total over 500 square meters in area, with 2,385 individual panels of handmade glass used.
But for the Broward County Convention Center, Donlin is getting out of his comfort zone. He’s designed a new terrazzo floor mural. It’s a medium he’s worked in before, but not quite at the massive scale intended for this project. Terrazzo is made by mixing tiny, crushed pieces of stone, glass, and other aggregates with a binding agent and grinding down the surface to create a polished exterior.
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- Terrazzo is made by mixing tiny, crushed pieces of stone, glass, and other aggregates with a binding agent and grinding down the surface to create a polished exterior. (Photo courtesy of Broward County Convention Center)
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- Artist Martin Donlin has worked with terrazzo before but not on such a large scale as in the installation at the Broward County Convention Center. (Photo courtesy of Broward County Convention Center)
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- British artist Martin Donlin’s terrazzo floor mural is titled “Flora and Fauna” and is being installed in the East Expansion building of the Broward County Convention Center. (Photo courtesy of Broward County Convention Center)
“It still kind of has a tenuous link to glass,” he says. “I really fell in love with the material, and when it’s polished, it looks fantastic.”
Titled “Flora and Fauna,” the artwork, which will be installed in the East Expansion building, features flowing water, coral reefs, schools of fish, and other motifs inspired by the lush environment of the Caribbean. Navigational symbols such as a compass, appropriate for the building’s seaside location, are included, as well as suns and moons that refer to the “regeneration and renewal” that comes with the passage of time.
“The moon is there as a reference to tides. It’s one of our oldest kinds of clocks,” says Donlin. “It’s part of the ebb and flow of life and of the water.”
Like with many of Donlin’s works, words are incorporated into the floor mural. He worked with Fort Lauderdale-based poet Darius V. Daughtry on a poem that reflects some of the themes present in the artwork. The text will be readable within the work, adding an experiential element. Donlin says working with writers is an important part of his process.
“I always like to work with either a writer or a poet, or someone that can tell me something about this place. And that generally generates ideas and a design.”
The artwork is part of the Broward County Public Art & Design Program, which has allocated two percent of the county capital construction project for commissioning artists who provide design expertise and create artworks within a broad range of medium and expression. The program focuses on the enhancement of the urban environment through the commissioned works of art which create a “sense of place.”
Phase one of the Convention Center expansion has already been completed, adding 800,000 square feet of space to the exhibition halls and loading docks.
The $1.3 billion project is due to complete in late 2025 and will add a total of 1.2 million square feet to the venue, including a 65,000 square foot ballroom, a waterfront plaza, an amphitheater, and a 29-story hotel operated by Omni Hotels & Resorts that connects directly to the Convention Center.
