Final Post: The Epic Piece, The Names and a Final Farewell

Part of this is mentioned on my Facebook. But I am mentioning it here for the people who don’t already know.

What is in each name?
What is its purpose?
Why was it made?
What does it all mean?
What is an end?

These are some questions that are intriguing to anyone, especially the people who are on the piece. Hello there. This is Scott Farr here. And as of right now, I have done one of the boldest things ever in my life. This piece represents a formal end to a college career. Debate all you want about what I have done, but first hear me out, and all of your questions will be answered…

1. The planning

I actually didn’t have any kind of special plans of going out for my graduation. But it wasn’t until after making the two Yankees pieces that I felt unsatisfied. Those were two great pieces that I made, and while they were successful to a degree, I felt I could do more. It was a feeling that I had over the winter break. Essentially it was those two pieces that made me think of an ultimate piece which could not just honor two people, but many. So I thought about it constantly. I was determined to put together such a piece that could make me feel that I had accomplished something for my last bittersweet semester. And so, the Epic Piece was born. It wasn’t until I came back to college that I started to make preparations. I worked on other pieces at the time as I was thinking more and more about it. As a matter of fact, those pieces I made in Stained Glass II were important in their own way. They helped train me in different respects as I made my way toward the Epic Piece. It was in waiting for so long. Longer than my chessboard. But it wasn’t until the chessboard was finished that I could get started. But while it was in waiting, I went through quite a few different designs. The first one was going to take up the whole board and have everyone’s name be on individual pieces (it would have consisted of more than 300 pieces). But when I saw the size of the kiln, I had to change that design because it would have taken forever to do. The next design is pretty much like the current one except for the fact that I had to break up the hexagons into pieces because then I could fire more pieces at a time. Now that it was done, I had to get the glass…

2. Trip to Concord and beyond

Getting the glass was a quest in itself. I needed a really large piece that the glass studio had. I certainly wasn’t going to try the lady in Troy (she’s very nice but she overcharges for glass supplies). I heard from Sarah (my teacher) that there was a woman who owned a glass store in Concord, NH that sold glass as large as I wanted. So one day, I took a 3 hour tour (Gilligan’s Island theme coming in right now) back and forth to Concord by following directions on Mapquest (even more bold). I eventually arrived, parked at a pay meter, put in money and went inside. What a sight! There was some of the best glass that I’ve ever seen in front of my very eyes. I met with the lady and she helped me out with getting the right size (and it was JUST right!). After that, she wrapped the glass in cardboard and packing paper and taped it up. I then carefully had to go bring that glass to the car on a windy day. There were times that the glass slightly moved in my hands as I had to go across the street and put it in the back of the Wrangler. I put it in the safest place and then went into the car. The drive back was dangerous. When I was only about 35 minutes away from FPC, I was going a little too fast, and the wind, along with the snow made it difficult to stop at a red light. My car skidded and I was almost flipped around to face traffic going in the same direction that I was. And in the process, I almost got whiplash. But through it all, I was okay, and most importantly of all, so was the stained glass piece (still in one piece). I made it back to FPC safely and stored it in my room since it was too big to store in the stained glass lab. One night, when everyone was in their humble abodes, I went over to the stained glass lab (with only a few people seeing me) and cut it into two irregularly shaped hexagons. It was done this way because I could fit more names on the piece. After I cut them, I bought some more glass that would fill up around the two hexagons. I cut them into triangles and they fit beautifully into the piece to make it a solid rectangle. Now that I had the pieces together, all cut and grinded up, it was time to paint the names on the glass…

3. Painting

Wow! What a mixture to get those pieces painted. I originally had trouble painting from the get-go because it was so tough to mix the paint and try to follow the font I had printed out. Luckily Sarah showed me the correct process with painting. This was no ordinary paint that I was using, first of all. It was paint that had a little lead in it so it could heat and stay on the glass better after being put in the kiln. After that, I learned to put the paint on a glass slab, mix it up and drop in four drops of clover and a drop of lavender to help the base. After that, I was on my way! The task was tedious and uncomfortable. The original piece was supposed to have over 250 names, but as I discovered more, it soon rose to the final total which I will reveal at the end. But the painting was long. After working in the tv station, I would go down there on most nights and paint with a tiny calligraphy pen. It was tough to keep the paint on that little thing. It would either have no paint or a lot of paint coming out at once. It was annoying but I persevered. After over 40 hours, I had painted all of the pieces and all of the names were displayed.

4. Firing, Foiling, soldering and putting on the finishing touches

Firing was pretty time consuming because there were so many other pieces being foiled at the same time and I had to wait for them to fire mine. It took four separate firings at four separate dates. There were times when I worried if I would get it done in time, especially when I was down to the last two. But they managed to get fired. Foiling it was not too hard since there were only 18 pieces to do. And soldering was easy too, although I had a scare after I had soldered half of it together before putting the frame on. There was a point when the pieces were stuck to the wooden board. I was not sure how I was going to get it off, but luckily the teacher was staying over night and I was able to get it off by having this special manila paper go under it and pry it off the board. Then after that, I had to put the frame on it because there were four pieces that would easily break off the corners. I had to be careful with how I framed it, and then from there I carefully soldered it together. Then the hooks had to be put on and I had to add a few more names to the frame that I had only realized after the pieces were kiln fired. While making the piece, I cut myself three times and burned myself twice (one of which blistered, and right when I finished soldering it! Never touch hot frames!).

5. Keeping it secret

This was the toughest part. Quite a few people in my stained glass class were on the piece and I had to hide it from them. Campus Safety came in quite a few times while I was working but were kind enough to keep it confidential. But the greatest dangers came from two people who almost found out. Vito Trigo almost found out when I was printing out an updated list of names for the piece. We both printed something at the same time and he was starting to look at what I had done before I quickly pulled it away from him. In the process I gave poor Vito a paper cut. I felt guilty about it and decided to create a special section on the piece where he would go. It was the least I could do. The other time almost happened when Brittany Bonesteel was giving a tour guide on a Saturday. I was working on the last part of painting the piece when she walked by showing off the stained glass room. Luckily she didn’t walk into the stained glass room or she would have discovered what I was doing (ironically, she almost discovered the piece I had made for her and Nate five months previously if she had stared into the room for a few more seconds while giving that tour guide). But Brittany’s a good girl who I’m sure would have kept the secret anyway and Vito is a good guy who would have done the same. But other than that, I was careful to cover my tracks and show it to as few people as possible.

6. The meaning

The meaning is quite simple. I made it to honor people I knew who worked in television, radio, newspaper, the Exchange, broadcasting, film and animation. It was quite a task to get the names secretly and to figure out as much as I could. The names in the hexagon are people who have worked in one of the seven areas. All of them worked hard to get there. The two triangle pieces represent two things: the top represents people who are not in any of those seven areas, but they still made significant contributions to one of those fields. The bottom piece represents the people who represent those fields and help out every one of us to do better in one of those fields. The edges are what reinforce the points. And the names carved into the frame are those that I realized after everything was said and done (my apologies to the few people). And if there was anyone I forgot, I made a small section to honor those that I forgot to put on the piece. That’s all there really is to it.

Quick Facts:

-Took around 140 hours to work on (that is including kiln time)
-Painting by itself took over 40 hours
-The piece itself cost around $70
-92% of the piece was painted left handed. The other 8% was right handed for the problematic spots
-Was to originally consist of each name on one individual piece, but considering time constraints, the design had to be radically changed
-Name Count: 351 (352 if you include “The Others” which represents the people I might have forgotten)
-The piece was inspired by two things: I wanted to do something for everybody that I got to see actively participate in Mass Comm and also for Brittany Bonesteel for giving me the confidence and inspiration to go through with it after her generosity with the two pieces I made for her and Nate (for that I’m thankful)
-No actual drawing on paper for this piece. Constructed entirely on the board as it was.
-2nd project to be painted (1st was a chess board)
-2nd project to have frame carved into (Two Yankees pieces before that)
-Considered the 2nd best piece I’ve worked on in my opinion
-Got cut three times and burned myself twice
-When I ran out of room, I started to carve names into the frame (only the 2nd time I’ve done it)

7. The names

Since I made the piece, I find it only fitting to put up the names of the individuals who have worked in the 7 areas and mention them properly and thank them for everything that they have done. Keep in mind that the names were put on the piece based on how they would fit best (but I did make a few exceptions). Let’s begin:

Dan Desrochers
Arikka Knights
Brittany Bonesteel
Steve Dodrill
Andy Rathier
Joe Fagella
James Gauvain
Derek Gorman
Michael Lavery
Jeff Cornell
Jason Gilbert
Nate Milevskiy
Laurie Spieker
Justin Martell
Derek Tishler
Jen DePaul
Robert Panza
Eric Jackman
Jimi Devine
Matt Fedorka
Cristal Pinnix
Suzanne Kowalski
Thomas Atwood
Nalina Shapiro
Shawn Fallon
Kamla Taylor
Juliana Spence
Corinne Goulet
David Vishniac
Jillian McElroy
Erica Jordan
Trent Spiner
Jerry Davydov
Angela Barone
Ben Lek
Greg King
Sarah Blake
Dylan Kiely
Kim Ruth
Adam Saada
Liam Lally
Daniel May
Kyle Corwin
Alex Potts
Frank Seijas
Paolo Corso
Sean Mayo
Kara Pioli
Sean Gelinas
Tyler Reynolds-Rothstein
Jackie Gallerston
Kayleigh Jaksina
Christopher Lawton
Michelle Sellers
Catherine Johnson
Katherine Porter
Fridrik Fridriksson
Jonathan Sencabaugh
Althea Gladstone
Jennifer Pandolfelli
Rachael Van Nostrand
Eric Zinkerman
Brendan Shaughnessy
Christina Amesquita
Charlotte Farber
Robert Peretta
Courtney Tivnan
Chris Lundquist
Brandon McLaren
Lateefah Ralston
Tracey McDermott
Lindsay Shelton
Hilary DelaBruere
Robbie Michaelson
Carol Pennamacoor
Michael Walsh
Dave “Lefty” Damietta
Kerrilyn Matarese
Brandon Shorey
Christian Dusaitis
Niels Gunnarsson
Mike Herrmann
Tony Catinella
Thuwaiba Thezine
Patricia Donahue
Michel Vitulano
Natalya Waye
William Pierce
Barrett Schenk
Landon Kolsky
Michael McGlone
Ashley Roberts
Phillip McCully
Barbara Gilcrist
Molly Jackson
Shianna Jones-Santana
Francesca Santoro
Thomas Ahronian
Alex Marinelli
Peter Lambert
Daniel Willard
Jack and Darcy
Kaitlyn Driggs
Abbie Tumbleson
Alex Burnet
Dave Mattern
Alma Bjelic
Sam Wilson
Zach Weight
Jack Brown
Rob Centore
Deidre Moore
Jessica Allsop
Caroline Choi
Daniel Fox
Alexa Bullock
Craig Power
Ashley Saari
Sarah Scoville
Roger Snell
Heather Miller
Lizette Morris
Siobhain Dooley
Nicole Buckholz
Steven Pleva
Claire Tratnyek
Joseph Deprofio
Brittany Barry
Jared Dibatista
Alicia Wunsch
Pete Charron
A.J. Kierstead
Kara Robinson
Thomas Cooper
Ryan Strayer
Kallie Moylan
Ken Botelho
Vicky Havey
Kyle Kruse
Josh Olsen
Molly Blais
Evan Fata
Eric Becker
Ashley Heile
Joe Smith
Matt Leite
Joe Malkin
James Thorpe
Casey Bolduc
Erin Freeman
Drew Forbes
Chris Potter
Patrick Deane
Jay Sansone
Erin Rafuse
Frank Romano
Erika McGowan
Dave O’ Brien
Meredith Butler
Diana Rudha
Jonathan Gordon
Evan Goyette
Chris Osborn
Tarrah Oktavec
Steve Altieri
Evan Mezansky
Cody Keiser
Charlie Bowden
Kimberly Fuller
Kevin Flanders
Ashley Steele
Marcus Banks
John Goulet
Rob Frankel
Wintana Girma
Dena Sutton
Harmony Gensch
James Sennott
Erika Wadman
Kevin Flanders
Danielle White
Nicole McKinnon
Caitlyn Taylor
Timothy Koster
Barry St. Onge
Chris Williams
Kevin Rossi
Tim Randall
Anjelica Benjamin
Ashley Owen
John Donahue
Rory Turner
Heather Cornell
Robert Weiner
Joe Tyman
Jessica Fantini
Justin Brown
James Targe
Michaela Sullivan
Beth Tedeschi
Stuart Mitchell
Mike Patinsky
Kyle Plaskiewicz
Matthew McCoubry
Rocco Tripaldi
Paul McGoldrick
Mike Passaretti
Emily Schwartz
Shane Vanderbilt
Jessica Champagne (Rose)
Stella Walling
Charles Handy
Michael Forrest
Allison Ayers
Derek Flodin
Shannon Sciria
John Keegan
Seth Graham
David Swift
Greg Scott
Eric Turcio
Amanda Melemed
Daniel Byrne
Audra Clark
Erik Lydell
Kyle Marsden-Kish
Stephanie Thomas-Lundberg
Twanisha Mitchell
Michelle Moncrieffe
Courtney Boardman
Pete “Blue” Spinizola
Christina Eichelkraut
Andrew Van Ness
Keith Brouliard
Dennis Millman
Jacob “Willow” Quimby
Angie Wirtanen
Craig O’Keefe
Meghann Wright
Matt Descoteau
Paige Matthews
Jacob McFarlane
Michael Gajdosik
Precious Lopez
Eric Casas-Rubin
Reid Fontaine
David Spurling
Katelyn Husereau
Sean Meehan
Brendan Potter
Lauren Underwood
Jessica Sperlangano
Alissa Silverman
Kerry Columbus
Kyle Provost
Chris Shukur
Jessica Lloyd
Dana Frazao
Steven Lacey
April Demers
A.J. Stewart
David Reid
Soren Wills
Doug Sharp
Lisa Shea
Tim McCarthy-Bercury
Ashlee Medeiros
Adam Fuchs
Jordan Handy
Phillip Enright
Megan Englehardt
Keith Minsinger
Stacey Salotto
Jason Potterton
Sara Estis
Taylor Frazao
Adam Peros
Tom Novak
Craig Shom
Frank Blais
Tony Chavira
Jon Galed
Matt Soule
Moe Watson
Jim Ford
Kelly Graham
Jon Mueller
Matt Naffah
Greg Gossling
Carlye Petoff
Lindsay Hoey
Sean Gill
Allen Baird
Danielle Forest
Coretta Ryan
Sarah Walsh
Kelly Stieh
Jessica Norton
Kelly Faulkner
Lee Wilson
Martta Makila
Jackie Dunster
John Garrity
Katrina Dody
Bryan Shultheiss
Nikki Berger
Mike D’eramo
Mark Patrylak
Eric Parkinson
Lisa Dougherty
Kelly Nolan
Chris Catalan
Simon Slyper
James Averyt
Katherine Surgen
Chris Sasso
Liz Ward
John Gray
Pierre Sully
Justin Powell
Adam Taylor
Tony Remillard
Justin McCoubry
Mike Jackman
Vito Trigo
Brad Thomas
Alice Becker
Chuck Crawford
Chad Cook
Terrell Boston Smith
Dennis Seavey
Zak Wood
Brian McCoy
Kurt Lortz
Ashlee Gallagher
Laura Blanchard
Brandon Mancuso
Nick White
David Muise
Cate Thurston
Rose Cowhig
Kristen Nevious
Paul Bush
Doug Monson
Phyllis Zrzavy
Richard Roth
Heather Weibel Tullio
Scott Farr


The end

So there is the Epic Piece for all of you. The piece will be donated to the school. But before I go, I want to dedicate this piece especially to the people on it for all of their hard work.

That just about does it. But before I go, I would like to thank some people on my list.

Kyle Provost: You helped get me started in the sports department in the first place. I learned a lot about sports from you.

Chris Shukur and Kerry Columbus: The broadcasters for the Hard Core sports guys will always dominate!

Andrew Van Ness: You helped me get back into radio and introduced me into broadcasting. For that I am grateful.

Matt Soule: For showing me other things in the television department. And for being flexible.

Frank Blais: For being a staple of FPC-TV 25. Period.

Angie Wirtanen: For getting me slowly introduced into the newscast and always appreciating my help.

Jon Galed and Landon Kolsky: I’ll miss the King of the Fitz and Skippy!

Matt Leite: For being one of the best broadcasters I’ve seen. Keep up the good work!

Nate Milevskiy: For being a good station manager. And for really helping me out with those field hockey games!

Dave Vishniac: For being another great broadcaster I’ve seen. And for staying on top of everything that sports broadcasting does on the radio.

Trent Spiner: I wish I had written more for the paper. But the time I spent with the Arrow was great, and you did a good job of expressing your opinions and making the paper better.

Michael Walsh: Thank you for giving me a chance to write sports articles for the Arrow. I could not have done it without you

Steve Dodrill: For being prepared and ready for all of the newscasts, broadcasts and the special events that you’ve done. All of that experience comes in handy! Keep up the good work!

Dan Desrochers: For being an awesome station manager and for being there when I needed help. I’ve always enjoyed working for the tv station and will miss you and the others there.

Arikka Knights: You do a wonderful job of managing the newscast. Thank you for letting me be talent and filling in for people.

Jeff Cornell: For being a part of some wonderful shows that we’ve done together. Go Whalers!

Derek Gorman: For being the best pick up guy at the tv station. You can do it all. Glad to have known you.

Robbie Michaelson: Outstanding job your first year. You remind me of myself (though you’re hitting everything a lot sooner than I did). Don’t forget what I taught you!

Ashley Roberts: Keep up the good work with Arts and Entertainment!

Sam Wilson: Same as with Ashley. And show off your reviewing skills too!

Natalya Waye and Erika McGowan: Great job with the Fitzies! A very generous thing to do! And also for being a part of the Arts and Entertainment shows and making every single one better this year. Keep up the great work.

Evan Goyette: You do great work at the tv station. Always remember that!

Marcus Banks: I'll miss the arguments that we had about sports, especially the Kobe-MJ debate.

Daniel May: For his expertise with video games. And also being there for shows. And for being a true friend.

Mike Lavery: Wish I was on your show. That’s all right! I had some fun times with you. And for some strange reason, I feel the urge to play some Bocce Ball.

James Gauvain: I will miss your humor. That’s a fact. And as of right now, you’ll probably be thinking of something humorous with what I just said. Whatever the case, I will miss the sarcasm.

Kerri Matarese and Brandon Shorey: I will miss the unique films you two made. One goes for a touching documentary that reaches out to the community. The other goes with a movie by the name of Schadenfreude (I loved the breaking of the 4th wall). I’ll miss you guys.

Josh Olsen, Sean Mayo, Chris Dusaitis, Phil McCully and Derek Tishler: Wow! The films you guys come up with! They are breathtaking! Learned a lot about Irish setters, DJs, skateboarding/weddings, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and HOT SAUCE!

Kyle Corwin: I enjoyed all of the times that we were together with filming, especially in the most amazing circumstances! And you make some breathtaking films. Definitely will not forget shooting scenes in your car any time soon!

Greg King: Glad to be a part of a film that you made. It is an honor and privilege.

Andy Rathier: Working on the sports shows with you was great! Especially since in most cases it was just the two of us in the control room!

Lefty (Dave) Damietta: Good luck in the next college that you go to. And for bringing your personality to every show!

Eric Jackman and Justin Martell: The Dynamic Duo shall prevail! And they will continue to get more audiences.

Jen DePaul: I will be graduating with you. And the possibilities are endless after college.

Matt Fedorka: Loved your radio show. I wished that I could have done a radio show with you this past semester. And I hope you can get back on the air soon.

Frank Seijas: I wish I could say goodbye to you personally. I wish I could see you when you got back. But I won’t forget the times that we had together, especially in the news class (oh those packages!). I’ll also miss the delicious cooking that you make (pasta alfredo with a little spicy kick! I love it!).

Robert Frankel and Kyle Kruse: Two of the most amazing mass comm./lacrosse players I know. Had to get you guys in here!

The Exchange (Bobby Panza, Jason Gilbert, Dena Sutton, Sarah Blake, Mike McGlone, Juliana Spence, Jimi Devine, Chris Potter and Molly Jackson): Thanks for putting out a great issue week after week. And for putting up with my shenanigans (He! He! He!). But you guys work hard to get it out on a weekly basis.

John Spence: Because I feel the need to get the word out about this guy (he’s the most popular guy in school). I know he’s not in mass comm., but he’s still awesome.

Joe Fagella: It’s amazing how far we’ve both come in the sports department. We’ll both go out together on top man!

Professor Bush: For showing me what journalism is all about. And to write properly and to follow the journalism code!

Professor Roth: For giving me a real world look at how film and the media are. Now I know I have to be the best I can be.

Professor Tullio: For showing me film, animation and what the media is like. And for being the teacher in 7 of my classes.

Professor Zrzavy: I learned so much from your classes. And I’m looking at media in a whole new light.

Doug Monson: Thank you for giving me the chance to broadcast even through my ups and downs. At least I stuck with it.

Dr. Kristen Nevious: Thank you for appreciating the stained glass piece I made for the Fitzwater Center. It is in good hands and moving in the right direction. And I will miss this place when I leave.

That will do it for the dedications…but wait! I have one more to give!

Brittany Bonesteel: Couldn’t forget about you. You helped me in three ways. One, for having me go to the newscast in the first place which led for me to get involved in most every other show on campus. Two: for having me become a better person. And three: for inspiring that Stained Glass piece I gave to the Fitzwater Center. Thank you very much Miss Inspiration! I’m eternally grateful.

And to the rest of you who I did not mention, whether I know you or not, I will miss you. So I hope everyone is all right. That is all this Renaissance man has to say. Good bye! May we meet again some time!