Saving historic LDS chapels (with multimedia)

One glance around the 1924 Yale Ward Chapel and Martine Smith was hooked.

Previously worshipping in a spanking new Mormon meetinghouse in Louisiana, Smith was dazzled by the light playing on Jesus' robe in the stained-glass window in Yale's chapel, the white pews with dark wood trim, the vaulted ceiling and sloping floor.

"I felt inspired and elevated," says Smith, who has been going to the Salt Lake City chapel for the past 14 years. "And every Sunday I still do."

The Yale meetinghouse is among a handful of historic chapels that still exist from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' building boom of the first decades of the 20th century. Scattered throughout the city and state, they dot the landscape

with Renaissance domes, Gothic arches, scalloped Spanish Baroque gables, Romanesque archways and American colonial steeples.


For every historic Mormon church that remains standing, however, dozens more have been sold, razed or rebuilt beyond recognition.

So who decides which buildings get sensitively renovated, like the Tabernacle on Temple Square or the Salt Lake 10th Ward on 500 South, and which ones bite the dust, like the Riverton Ward meetinghouse or the Salt Lake 17th Ward?

Landmark LDS temples, tabernacles and meetinghouses could be maintained if they have "significant history, art or architecture," says Steve Olson, a member of the church's historic-site committee. "But the church is not in the preservation business. We don't just preserve things because they're pretty. Our buildings need to continue to facilitate the work of the church, which is saving souls."

There probably are four dozen LDS structures in the Intermountain West built between 1860 and 1940 on the church's landmark list, he says. About half are meetinghouses, including the Yale Ward and the others profiled here.

In recent years, the church has developed a systematic way to manage the tension between the desire to preserve historic structures and the reality of contemporary congregational needs. Often it's a question of money and the most responsible use of the church's resources.

If one of these historic chapels needs a major repair -- such as replacing a roof, boiler system or plumbing -- Salt Lake City's codes may require the church to include costly seismic or other upgrades. Such upgrades could make renovations impractical.

Decisions are not just handed down from church headquarters without input from local LDS leaders, Olson says. "They are negotiated in good faith by all parties involved -- from the physical-facilities managers to local ecclesiastical leaders to architects and historians."

All of the buildings profiled here are in continued use and none faces demolition, he says. "Yet all of them will, at some point, go through this process of evaluation."




New push for old buildings » In February 1971, LDS leaders decided to demolish the Coalville Tabernacle, a magnificent edifice rising like a cathedral from the Summit County farmland. Every day for a week, The New York Times reported the progress of a group of residents working furiously to win a restraining order against the church. When a judge overturned the order, Mormon officials didn't hesitate. Two days later, a testament to the devotion of early Saints was reduced to rubble.

A generation of LDS preservationists was born that day.

And the church learned that many people -- in and outside the church -- care about preserving physical evidence of LDS faith and faithfulness.

Still, the 1970s mostly were disastrous for the church's historic buildings. From 1975 to 1979, temples in Mesa, Ariz., and St. George were drastically changed, while Logan's temple was gutted. No attempt was made to restore the buildings' original splendor. Murals were removed or painted over. Walls were rearranged.

Only a handful of LDS buildings remain from the first generation of settlers in Salt Lake City (1847 to 1870). None of the original 19 ward buildings has survived.

Eventually, the tide turned, says Paul Anderson, an architect and curator at Brigham Young
University's Museum of Art. "Over the last 20 to 30 years, it's been wonderful to see the church's efforts to make some of its beautiful old structures earthquake-proof and to preserve their historic character."




Image building » The first few decades of the 20th century were pivotal for the LDS Church and architecture became its public face.

"The great variety of those structures reflects the church's wide-ranging search for appropriate new images of itself as it emerged from the isolation of its pioneer past into the mainstream of early 20th-century American life," Anderson writes in a forthcoming book, Mormon Moderne: New Directions in Latter-day Saint Architecture, 1890--1955 .

Eager to show that Mormonism was no longer a "strange and scandalous sect," Anderson writes, "Mormons asserted their respectability as upright American citizens and Christians by building churches that incorporated many elements of traditional American and Christian imagery ... pointed arches, stained-glass windows, buttresses and pinnacles."

Their churches even drew on styles not common to religious buildings such as the Prairie Style of Frank Lloyd Wright, the International Style of the European avant-garde and the Art Deco and streamlined modernism of Jazz Age Americanism.

But these architects also substituted images, for example, of Joseph Smith's First Vision in stained-glass windows for more iconic biblical scenes to provide a uniquely Mormon feel.

Today, those historic buildings continue to be some of the most beloved in the Salt Lake Valley, Anderson says. "They are landmarks in our community and they enrich the lives of those who see them from the outside as well as those lucky enough to worship in them. It would be a great loss if any more were to disappear."

http://www.sltrib.com/

Melvyn Bragg donates stained glass windows to Wigton church

The Bragg family windows were commissioned with the intention of bringing the town’s heritage into the church and they depict some of its most loved and historic landmarks. Lord Bragg and the congregation are all pleased with the results, which have been described by Canon Geoffrey Ravalde as spectacular.

Lord Bragg, a former St Mary’s choirboy, has spent most of his adult life away from his home town.

But he still has a deep connection to his roots and Wigton has provided the setting for several of his books.

He told The Cumberland News: “I love the town and seem to be bound to it.”

The original plan was for just one window. But another two were added as the designs developed and seemingly cried out for more space.

Lord Bragg was also encouraged to extend his generosity by a friend of his late father, who implored him to “dig deep Melvyn, dig deep”.

The Bragg family are long-standing members of the congregation and because the project was so personal, Lord Bragg did more than just sign the cheque to pay for it.

The former controller of arts at London Weekend Television, who was educated at Nelson Thomlinson School in Wigton and then Oxford University, gave a very specific brief to the man who designed the windows, local artist and friend Brian Campbell. And he was involved in discussions at every stage along the way to the installation.

Lord Bragg added: “It was an old-fashioned commission, I didn’t say; ‘do what you want’. I was very detailed, then Brian added his own designs and perspective and he did it extremely well.”

Stained-glass artist Alex Haynes, of Albion Glass in Brampton, then turned Mr Campbell’s sketches into reality. Lord Bragg said: “He put plain glass around the shields so you can see Wigton twice, which I think is brilliant.”

The windows were blessed by Canon Geoffrey Ravalde during a dedication ceremony at St Mary’s on Sunday, which Lord Bragg attended.

Canon Ravalde is both grateful and impressed with the addition to his church.

He said: “The scale and vision of this is extremely rare and the reaction has been spectacular.

“Everyone who has seen the windows has been amazed by the colour, detail and artistry.”

By Steph Johnson

Grant Wood window heads for restoration

A Davenport firm is beginning the process of repairing the flood-damaged Grant Wood stained-glass window at the Veterans Memorial Building on May’s Island.

Glass Heritage LLC has told the city it will take 12 to 15 days to remove the window’s 58 glass panels. The work began Monday.

The firm will take the panels to its studio and complete the repairs in 34 weeks.

The City Council approved a contract up to $147,000 with Glass Heritage.

The city had private insurance on the window that will cover the repair costs, officials have said.

Heart of glass: Local man brings art to life

Steve Skelton not only captures an image with his artwork, he brings it to life.

Steve's Custom Stained Glass, 425 Joliet St. in Aurora, which is both Skelton's art studio and home, creates custom leaded glass and Tiffany-style glass work for clients.

The soft colors, warm hues and many textures and designs of Skelton's glass illuminate homes throughout Colorado with an abstract distortion of light that constantly changes with the movement of the sun.

"It always begins with a design," Skelton said heading to his drawing room in the basement of his home. "After an initial consultation with a client on what they want, I create a cartoon or drawing, and if it's approved by the client, it's a start of the piece."

Of course the drawing is not what breathes light into the piece, Skelton said. It's the glass.

"During my consultations with clients I bring glass samples or colors I'd think they'd like or would work best with the image they are trying to capture," Skelton said. "I end up choosing most of the glass for clients because they trust my experience."

Skelton has been working with leaded and Tiffany glass for 33 years.

As an alum of Michigan State University, Skelton originally studied hospitality/hotel management, but quickly discovered a career in stained glass and an opportunity to run his own business appealed much more to his relaxed lifestyle.

In the same room where Skelton created the drawing for the glass piece, he demonstrates how he cuts the glass to match the drawn pattern.

Skelton places a piece of glass over the pattern and with a glass cutter, traces the pattern below. Then, with a small hammer, he taps the glass along the outline to release the piece.

"You have to be extremely precise when cutting the glass," Skelton said. "It's not so much as cutting, but fracturing it."

It takes Skelton about five hours to cut each individual piece for a project. From there, it's another four or five hours to foil or sotter the glass pieces together.

While there are two methods to designing a stained glass piece, Skelton said he prefers the Tiffany-style copper foiling because it allows for greater detail in designs than does the lead-based foiling.

All together, creating one glass piece can take Skelton up to 16 hours.

"It's time consuming and labor intensive," he said. "Plus the price of glass, that is why stained glass is not cheap."

Skelton's pieces cost anywhere from $100 to $800, and he said his prices are much lower than the competition because he is just a one-man studio.

"I can charge typically 30 to 50 percent less because I don't have the overhead other studios do," he said.

Stained glass artwork is a luxury item, Skelton said. So naturally in a slow economy it would seem business would slow, but Skelton said it has remained pretty steady.

"I do three or four projects a month and sometimes only two if they are larger pieces," he said. "I also have an Ebay store where I ship small orders."

Abstract designs, Mission-style artwork and Art Deco are the most common design requests Skelton receives. His favorite designs are abstract pieces because he said he can use all types of glass, colors and shapes for the designs.

"I make a living where I have always been able to make ends meet," he said. "I have a sense of achievement and it's a nice feeling to have people appreciate my work."

Nichols returns to Liberty to sing, exhibit stained glass

Gary Nichols, known in Sullivan County for his country music, will be in Liberty this weekend with his guitar, but this time he brings some of his stained glass art to show as well.

"After many years, and too many miles on the road, I took up the art of stained glass, and love it," Nichols said.

In 2004, he signed up for a class in stained glass at Watkins College of Art & Design, an art school in Nashville.

Nichols currently displays and sells his work in several Nashville gift shops, and is honored to have his "Hearts of Nine," an original stained glass piece of art, hang in the Vanderbilt Heart Institute.

His work will be on display at a free art show at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Liberty Museum & Arts Center on Main Street in Liberty.

The art show is part of Liberty's Bicentennial History Day held at the Liberty Museum and Arts Center that will include a reception at noon, Nichols' presentation at 1 p.m. and a history lecture with John Conway at 2:30 p.m.

Nichols will perform at Liberty's July 4th Celebration at 1 p.m. For more information about the Liberty Bicentennial History Day, contact the Liberty Museum & Arts Center at 292-2394.

FRom http://www.recordonline.com/

Scott and Suzanne Rosema create living portfolio of lasting art in Temujin Studio

Married artists Scott Rosema and Suzanne Hiza-Rosema have seen the light.
After toiling for years in their Muskegon home's cramped, subterranean basement, the couple opened Temujin Studio, 1046 E. Sternberg, 18 months ago.

The spacious, ground-level studio provides plenty of elbow room for both working artists, and a light-filled storefront to display Rosema's illustrations and Hiza-Rosema's stained-glass creations.

"The gallery is our living portfolio," Rosema said.

Temujin -- a Tibetan word meaning "to reach" or "to strive," -- is not only the studio's name, but the artists' mantra.



"That's what we like to do with our art," Rosema said.

Rosema, 50, who studied illustration and advertising at Grand Rapids' Kendall College of Art and Design before joining The Muskegon Chronicle's artistic team in 1985, said his interest in art goes way back.

"I started drawing at age 4 and never stopped," he said.

In 1991 Rosema decided it was time to "shake things up a bit," and plunged into the world of comic illustration, taking the part-time freelance work he had done for the comic industry and turning it into a full-time career.

The gamble paid off with steady assignments from Disney, Marvel Comics, D.C. Comics, Dream Works, Cartoon Network, Archie Comics, Warner Bros. and Looney Tunes. The work he did for Tiny Tunes took his work to Brazil, Italy, Germany, Spain and Belgium, Rosema said.
While his work in the comic industry continues, Rosema also challenges his imagination and skills as an illustrator creating elaborate "fantasy" portraits of mystical characters, which he markets at comic industry shows.

These days the couple team up for the shows, with Hiza-Rosema crafting elaborate stained-glass comic book icons, such as Dr. Doom, Spider Man, Elvira, Godzilla, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, into tabletop or hanging art -- all designed by Rosema.

"These are something I would never have done on my own," Hiza-Rosema, 55, said of the stained-glass comic characters.

Hiza-Rosema, who worked for 20 years as a dental technician, picked up stained glass as a hobby more than 30 yeas ago.
"I just started playing with it and I loved it," Hiza-Rosema said. "I love what it does to a space."

A regular customer of a Grand Rapids stained-glass supply shop, Hiza-Rosema was asked by the owner if she would submit a drawing for stained-glass panels being commissioned by Bethel Pentecostal Church. The design, a collaborative effort by the couple, was selected and Hiza-Rosema found herself spending the next year working on the nine window panels, each 17-feet high and 3-feet wide. The enormous task was the first of many commissions to follow and brought her to the Stained Glass Place full-time for the next five years.

Although her church commissions are impressive, Hiza-Rosema also enjoys crafting decorative boxes, hinged pocket mirrors, or small charms she calls "light dancers."

"When I'm working on them, they kind of create themselves," she said of the charms.

Antique glass or unusual trinkets often find their way into her glass creations.

"If you work with glass you can work with found objects," Hiza-Rosema said.聽"You can incorporate a person's memories."

Interpreting customer's memories into meaningful and lasting works is something both artists take pride in.

Using their respective mediums, both artists are regularly commissioned to create portraits -- of loved ones, beloved pets or houses.

"We work with the customer, their sensibilities, their interests," Hiza-Rosema said.

Occasionally Hiza-Rosema is charged with restoring a vintage stained-glass piece. A 1910-era window, sadly in need of attention, rests dismantled on her workbench. A rubbing of the original design is mounted on the wall for reference. Hiza-Rosema said even the broken panes will be re-cut and returned to the original piece, keeping the amount of new glass to a minimum.

"We take the time and the care to do Old World craftsmanship," Rosema said. "We're doing something that's going to last beyond us."

from http://www.mlive.com/

Treasure in glass

Avid Old Sleepy Eye collectors, Floyd and Sharon Reynolds of Kansas City, have added another treasure to their prized collection. And, no, it’s not a century-old Sleepy Eye Mill pitcher or vase.
This treasure is brand new, a two by two foot stained glass replica of a Sleepy Eye Mills flour barrel label, created at Sleepy Eye Stained Glass by Linda Green.
“It’s just beautiful,” Sharon said Monday. “We are so pleased with it.”
The Reynolds made a special trip from Kansas to pick up the completed work on Monday.
Floyd commissioned the piece from Sleepy Eye Stained Glass owner Mike Mason in 2008, when Floyd attended Mike’s stained glass seminar held during the Old Sleepy Eye Collectors’ Club Convention.
Mike made the pattern from photos of the barrel label and had intended to create the stained glass replica for himself.
“I had the pattern laying out during the seminar,” Mike explained. “Floyd saw it and ordered one before he left that day.”
Mike’s original pattern was twice the Reynolds’ completed piece. With its order, Linda was delegated as the artist in charge of creating the piece.
Linda said she received many positive comments on the piece.
On Saturday, Linda was working in the shop when a gentleman from the Twin Cities stopped in. He wanted to buy the stained glass label for his mother, no matter the cost.
When Linda told him it had already been sold, he asked if she could create another one. Linda wasn’t sure she wanted to take on the project again. “I hemmed and hawed and then gave him a price off the top of my head, a price I thought he would never take,” Linda said.
“He paid me half of that price up front. Now I have to do another one by Dec. 1.”
On Monday, after Linda signed her name as creator, Mike carefully packed the stained glass Sleepy Eye Mill flour barrel label for the Reynolds’ return trip to Kansas.
Sharon said she has some ideas where the piece will be proudly displayed in their home. “It’s so much prettier than I thought it would be,” she said. “It was worth waiting for.”
With its commission and purchase, yet another piece of art from Sleepy Eye Stained Glass goes out into the world.
Over the years, Mike’s business has gained quite a reputation for quality stained glass artwork. Mike said they have created or restored stained glass pieces that have been sent all over the United States. Just recently, a stained glass piece was commissioned and completed for a couple from England.
“I don’t think of my work (at Sleepy Eye Stained Glass) as a job,” Linda said. “I’m doing something I love to do. I have fun every day when I come to work.”
http://www.sleepyeyenews.com/