It Makes A Difference

Just the other day, a married couple called to talk about the windows that had just been installed in their home. The husband said some very nice things about the sidelight and door inserts and was about to comment on the other panels, which went in their living room, when his wife took the phone away from him. She explained to Jeanne that she had to talk to her because he just wasn’t being enthusiastic enough in his praise of the beauty of the windows! Then she began to try to describe how marvelous the windows were and how pleased they were. She tried to express how happy they were with them and what a difference they make in the look of the home. She just couldn’t say enough to describe how incredible the windows were!

We knew exactly what she meant! When we delivered the panels to their home, as we were leaving, ½ of the windows had been installed and the craftsmen who had built their woodwork were preparing to complete the install of the other panels. Jeanne and I talked about how the stained glass that goes in a home really is the jewelry that adorns it!

When you get dressed up to go to the theatre or to a dance or any formal affair, no woman would think to go out without wearing her makeup and jewelry! Yet we sometimes see homeowners who don’t realize that something is missing until they have added the finishing touch of stained glass to their home.

By contrast to that joyful experience, we worked recently on a home built by a builder that we’ve done quite a bit of work with in the past. The floor plan of the home was one that was similar to several other homes we’ve installed stained glass in previously. But this homeowner was very budget conscious and didn’t want to spend too much on the completed home. So they had opted to get the most plain design we offer in two of their transom windows and have clear glass placed in all of the rest of the transoms in the house.

What hurt us as glass artists was not that we weren’t doing the same volume of work in the home that we normally would, but that these homeowners would not see the opportunity to really make their home something special. They were going to miss out on the joy that those first homeowners have experienced, the chance to really have some elements that they could enthusiastically jump up and down over, that would bring a smile to their hearts and lift their spirits every day that they live in the home!

I called the builder and encouraged him to talk to them and at least convince them to allow us to cut “seeded” glass for the transoms that weren’t going to get the simple art glass panels. They would then at least have a little more visual interest. They would have a “hint” of the stained glass possibility. And upon hearing that the cost of the seeded glass was only about $15 more than what clear glass would have been, they agreed that seeded glass would be a good choice.

That was actually a relief to us! We aren’t stained glass snobs. We do appreciate a good clear glass window that allows a view to be shown. We don’t feel that every single window in a home needs to be filled with art. And yet, there are times when the possibility of what could be just screams out at us so loudly that we KNOW that there should be glass there! And all we can do as responsible advisors is to try to convey the vision of what could be, of the possibility, of the opportunity to create something special. Those who have lived with stained glass understand what we’re talking about because they’ve experienced the joy that simple sunlight can bring. They know what it’s like to see sunlight come streaming through an inspirational panel of glass as they’ve eaten their morning bowl of cereal and contemplated the positive joy of life. They’ve experienced how the sunlight can be refracted on a sunny afternoon with playful rainbows cast from beveled glass pieces running up the wall and then the ceiling. And they may have even seen how a stained glass window seems to glow with positive energy on an overcast day, a beacon and a magnet, gathering up the available light and magnifying it, casting it into the heart of the viewer. A magnificent ray of hope!

Somehow, this is our job, to teach people of the endless possibilities that stained glass represents. If you’re reading this article, you probably already understand, that’s why you’ve found it. Those who have lived with it get it. The transcendent inspiration that comes from sunlight passing through glass can be so awe inspiring, no wonder it found it’s way into churches in the 14th and 15th centuries. No wonder those who have it are so fiercely happy about it and find it hard to even describe the emotions that come from living with it. Stained glass is simply beautiful, it makes a difference!

Appreciating Stained Glass

In 1983 I opened a stained glass studio in the small town of Pierce City, Missouri. It was a small studio during the first few months and then I got a chance to purchase a large building for a really great price. I soon moved across the street into the new location and set up shop.

The town was a small town and there were several vacant business spaces, so residents were very interested in what we were doing. One day, an older fellow came into the shop, he was a tall thin fellow, dressed in farm clothing and slightly stooped over in the shoulders. I was standing at a bench, cutting glass to fit in an art glass panel. He looked around the shop with interest, reached out to touch some glass pliers hanging on a wall display and then asked, “What are you gonna’ do here,” in a slow drawl.

I sat my glass cutter down, wiped off my hands on a rag and replied that we built stained glass windows for people and we also taught classes on how to make stained glass.

He gave that information a moment to sink in. I could tell he was really thinking this over, his mind racing even though outwardly he appeared to be very calm and relaxed. “What do ya do whith it once you get it made?” was his next question.

My mind reeled at the question, I thought it was self evident what one would do with stained glass. “Oh, “ I calmly replied, ”You can hang it in a window so the sun can shine through it. Some people have installed it in the transoms over their doors and one lady even built a piece of glass as a room divider.”

The old man pondered this new information, he kept nodding his head and looking around, trying to take it all in, he wasn’t the type to make snap decisions or pass quick judgments. He was really thinking on what I’d said and what he’d seen, then he made a statement, “You can’t see through it.”

And that was true, you couldn’t see through the glass and in that man’s mind, a window was a thing that you looked through. No amount of conversation was going to change his mind, the only hope I had of demonstrating the value of stained glass was to show him something that he really liked. But the moment passed and he left, never understanding what we were really doing in our studio. I could hardly wait to get home and tell Jeanne about that man because it seemed so funny, so extraordinary to meet someone who just didn’t get it.

Now, with a few more years of experience under my belt, I look at that moment with different eyes. I think back to my teenage years, going to Sunday school with my friends where all the boys were excitedly discussing the different basketball games of the day before. I listened to all their words, all that excited discussion about the games and I tried to understand what was so exciting about them. I’d played the game in gym when I had to, I’d seen a game or two but I just didn’t get the connection. These were guys who were so enthusiastic about the game, they knew the stats of all the teams and many of the players. They knew the standings of the teams, who was going to the playoffs, who was going home. They thrived on the game, no detail was missed, no statistic too small to be uninteresting. And they loved to talk about the game, about the sport, about the contest, about their opinion how a team could be turned around.

But no matter how hard I listened, no matter how interested I tried to be, I just couldn’t understand the draw of the game, until I met a retired teacher who had taught basketball in high school. His name was Lou Dean Flake and he had moved to Missouri to retire. He had taught school in Wyoming and then in Arizona. What was fascinating to me was his description of the game of basketball. Coincidently, he had done some of his first teaching in the same school that my Dad was attending when he was in high school. He talked about how great it was to watch my dad play basketball. “He had the greatest, natural one handed shot of anyone I’ve ever seen,” he was fond of telling me. Imagine that, my Dad had been a great basketball player and as he had kids, not one of them had an interest in the game. But listening to Mr. Flake describe the games and the coaching he’d done, I got a glimpse of what could be so compelling.

I still don’t get it. I sit in a room with sports enthusiasts and feel like an outsider, but that’s okay. I appreciate passion and I feel good for them that they can find so much joy in the game, year after year. After all, I find joy in cutting little pieces of glass from big sheets and then putting the glass back together. I find joy in spending countless hours grinding and fitting and learning every detail I can about stained glass. I’ll bet a lot of those ball players would shake their heads in wonder at how anybody could find it all so interesting, after all, “You can’t see through it.”

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Just Too Happy For Words

The other day a client came to pick up a window we built for her. She took one look at it and broke into tears. Yes, it really was that beautiful, a real knockout of design. Most people don't burst into tears over the beauty of their window, that comes later on an overcast day, when they are in a mood and they walk in to see those vibrant colors that somehow draw emotion out of you, forcing you to pay attention.

Stained glass art does that, it draws out emotions, demands recognition. There was a painting that some friends of mine owned. It was a macro-realistic painting of strawberries with a drop of water on one of the leaves and it was so perfect and so big, it took me away. It made me feel that I was a fraud, that my art meant nothing compared to this perfect still-life. It didn't actually make me weep to view that beauty, but it did bring me to the brink of tears (it's a guy thing, I guess).

I feel sorry for those who never develop a sensitivity to art work. Like the fellow in Missouri who asked what you did with that there stained glass when you were done with it. I carefully explained that we put it in the window and enjoyed the way it looked. He nodded his head for a long time and then said, "But you can't see through it."

He was right, you often can't see through a piece of stained glass, but, Oh the joy of looking at it, instead of through it. The Father of the client picking up the window really tried to understand his daughters connection to the piece of glass. "You really like that, don't you? Can you tell me what it is about it that you like? She answered and he still kept asking, not understanding the beauty that she beheld.

I'm glad to be one of those who gets it when viewing a piece of glass, and a great painting, a good view and a great sunset. Maybe I need to find common ground with guys who don’t get glass, I’m sure they swell with pride when they look at their dog or maybe their new truck…