On the New Stained Glass Windows

1/3/2012 1:10:30 PM

Steve Wilson explains the symbolism behind our new Breezeway stained glass windows.

In 1987, just after the completion of our chapel, Catherine Dunham asked me to create windows in the connecting hallway which would emulate the sanctuary stained glass yet remain opaque enough to block the views into what was then our children’s playground. She chose an amber “opak” as the dominant glass which was mouth-blown and hand-rolled in Germany. It served its purpose well. Things change.

Just after the completion of our new courtyard/amphitheater space this year, Claire (my wife) suggested that we replace those windows with more transparent, view-enhancing glass. Not wanting to deny Claire her every whim, three criteria were employed in the design of the six new windows: first, each has in some bordering fashion re-used the original amber opak chosen by Mrs. Dunham; second, each has a mostly clear center; third, each employs the use of traditional liturgical shapes (trefoil, quatrefoil, arches) which are adorned with ‘found objects’. These found objects from my career-long collection of broken tail-lights and wine glasses, shards from the Mississippi River, repair fragments from ours and other sanctuary windows, agate slices, antique jewels, bevels, and bits and pieces of glass made over the last 150 years, probably never to be duplicated.

Symbolically, they speak of our church being formed of our brokenness, our beauty, our young and old, our wise and weird (Rick S.).  For example, the lightly etched excerpts from Scripture and older hymns are some of my favorites. The “Ebenezer” verse from “Come Thou Fount…” should always be sung with this hymn because it prompts people (as it did me years ago) to research why we “raise our Ebenzer”! Each drawing in my sketch book, every collage and painting, and every stained glass window is for me an Ebenezer!  The verses of “This Is My Father’s World” have long been my ‘artist’s statement’.

The final window has a title: “Marionette, With No Strings Attached”. It’s a theme revisited from a window made years ago that hangs in Fred Grace’s studio. This one intentionally blocks the view. As a stained glass designer, it has been an opportunity to use the spectrum of color, the widest range of opacity to transparency, the use of old and new glass, and a favorite device of mine which makes a symbolic statement out of lead “came”, the line work which is the necessary structural element in a stained glass window. The three inch wide bar of lead suggests the horizontal beam of the cross as well as Christ’s agonizing separation from the Father.
Although my design, the windows were crafted by Warren Simmons, a master craftsman who works in my studio. Be on the lookout for an announcement of an upcoming opening in the old Kress building of a show of Warren’s unique paintings sponsored by the Art Council.

I want to thank the church for allowing me the freedom to create these windows. Deo Gloria!

In the spirit of Aholiab and Bezalel,
Steve Wilson

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