Another Design for the Southeastern Veterans Center

Freedom Isn't Free

The Southeastern Veterans Center provides much needed housing for disabled Vets in the most densely populated Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs.  The Veterans Administration’s plan to expand this facility would not only more than double its capacity but elevate it to the most state-of-the-art residence anywhere in America.  I was recently treated to a tour of the construction site, rapidly approaching completion and I was very impressed.  It was obvious that the Veterans Administration was on a mission to express a nation’s gratitude, far beyond mere bricks and mortar.

The new building would include a Chapel with opportunities for stained glass.  An earlier posting here featured my design for five windows that span across the front wall of the room and would be the focus of attention for any visitors.  The wall that separates the Chapel room from the adjoining hallway was pierced with three tall openings measuring 30 inches wide by 78 inches high.  When I first met with the administration in May of 2011, these hallway openings were discussed as a possible location for more stained glass but I’m not sure that the staff was convinced that they needed to be in the plan.  For whatever reason, it was politically undesirable to include funding art in the general budget.  Thus, the money would have to be raised from private donations.  So the uncertainty of donations could potentially limit the scope of the art.   I was convinced that they should receive stained glass for the sake of privacy.  These hallway windows would allow casual passers-by gaze directly into the Chapel, which could easily cause this quite, contemplative space to feel like a fish tank, with the occupants being on-display.

If you read my earlier posts, you already know that in November, I had a heart attack followed closely with bypass surgery on December 20^th.  In the first weeks of December, I was working on the Waves of History designs at home, while I was recuperating but I was still not able to go out to meetings so I imposed on Rita (Wife of 31 years) to keep a long-standing appointment at the Veteran Center to show them the five designs.  They had been patiently waiting since May to see some results from my paintbrush and I didn’t want to make them wait any longer.  They were thrilled with the five designs.  In the same meeting, Rita showed them a very simple and elegant concept for the three hallway windows.  A Simple grid of pale colored glass spanned all three openings with campaign ribbons, symbolizing various medals as well as significant theaters of war, distributed randomly throughout the designs.  While they liked this design for the hallway windows, it seems the Administration and volunteer coordinator believed that they would be better off seeking funding for designs that had more of a narrative quality- more “wow factor” as the Commandant put it.

For inspiration, I was directed to a certain web-image called “Freedom isn’t Free” and to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery.  The combination of the two themes at first confused me, since the one was more of a contemporary slogan while the Tomb was a rather severe classically tailored grave.  The two didn’t seem to have much in common.  The “Freedom isn’t Free” imagery has shadowy figures of infantry moving across the page.

I wanted to keep the design somewhat transparent and light since the hallway windows would not benefit from any outside light.  The Tomb at Arlington has very nice wreaths that face downward, symbolizing mourning.  More profound is the inscription “ Here rests an American Soldier known but to God”.  I am always looking for an opportunity to include text in my window designs and I fully intended to incorporate this quotation until I realized that this language could only appear on a grave and, while the Chapel would hopefully be a solemn space, it was not a gravesite.

So I went on surfing the web for inspiration when I came across nearly exactly what I was looking for, a terrific photograph of soldiers (or possibly Marines) on patrol in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

I knew that I wanted to use some manner of acid etching.  I love the look and we seem to do so much of it.  Very few other studios do, owing to the dangerous nature of working with hydrofluoric acid.  Red and blue flashed glass are among the most easily etched.  Here some explanation is in order.  Flashed glass is a particular type of hand-blown glass, still made in Germany and France.  Clear glass is gathered on the end of a blowpipe and the beginnings of a bubble is formed.  Next, the gather of clear glass is dipped into colored glass and the blowing process is continued resulting in a sheet of glass that is clear with a thin layer of colored glass on one side.  (Visit the Lamberts GmbH website to see glass being hand-blown.)  We will mask of that part of the glass we wish to remain colored and attack the exposed flash with the acid, which eats away the colored glass, revealing the clear glass underneath.  This would be the perfect recipe for stars and stripes.

So I combined the photo image of the patrol with the etching technique for the flag and bound them together with a rather traditional stained glass pattern of leading. The figures are pretty much life-size in the finished work.  It was requested that my design include the seals of the six branches of service, seen at the bottom of the three designs.  These will be real hard and very time-consuming!  I vacillated about including the wreath motif from the Tomb at Arlington but ultimately decided against it.  There was just enough going-on without any more.

My 3” = 1’,0” scaled design is shown above. The flag is done in watercolor but the soldiers were illustrated in a black Prismacolor pencil.                                   Joseph K. Beyer

Waves of History (Watercolor design in 3″ = 1′,0″ scale)

Here is a design I recently completed for the new Southeastern Veterans Center building in Spring City, PA.  This ensemble of five windows will appear in the new Chapel.  This Chapel will be non-denominational which means that it cannot feature any recognizably religious imagery or symbols.  I thought that this would be an easy assignment for someone so well versed in American military history but it proved surprisingly difficult.  First of all, the windows are placed farther apart than I have shown them here.  Each window measures 38 inches wide and the wall space between the stained glass panels will be 26 inches.  Spread apart in this manner, it becomes more difficult to visually connect the five openings.  A question that I kept returning to as I imagined the possibilities for a composition was “If the design for the Chapel cannot reference faith in God, then just what would be the higher value or ideal that would inspire an audience of veterans”?  It eventually became clear that personal sacrifice, for the betterment of mankind, under the auspices of any faith, would have to be the common thread that would link the service of the aging survivors with those who have gone before.

The far left panel begins the history with uniforms from the war of independence through the war of 1812.  Right away I begin crowding the composition with figures that eventually reach 21 in number.  I made a decision to begin adding woman and children to the composition for several reasons, variety is always more interesting and those who stay behind are also engaged in the fight and have a lot at stake. As far as adding the children, they represent the future generation, for whom the sacrifice is being offered.

I knew that I wanted the composition to have a visual and symbolic center and it took a while to come up with what would be a suitable focus of attention.   The second panel from the left features a Tuskeegee Airman who seems to be conversing with an African American soldier from the War between the States.  The uniforms of the last two, an infantry man and a sailor, take us up to World War 1.  Now the center panel, where a young Marine enjoys a moment with his two children.  He only has eyes for his daughter but the childrens attention extends beyond the horizon.  An imaginary vision of the Statue of Liberty appears in the clouds, presumably visible to only the children.  In the next panel, pilots from the Vietman era and WW2 reflect on the scene at hand.  The infantryman in the contemporary digital camo was a later addition, requested by the Veterans Center Commandant, who pointed out that soon there would be arriving veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and he felt that it was important that they see themselves in the composition.  Finally, the last panel illustrates the contribution of nurse and medical professionals through our military’s history.

American flags “bookend” the composition at either end, beginning with the thirteen stars flag and ending with the contemporary 50 state flag.   Amber waves of grain and purple mountains serve as a musical backdrop, referencing the Irving Berlin anthem America the Beautiful.  The lyrics of the song appear below as part of a decorative border, spanning all five panels.

These five windows will be back-lit with florescent fixtures.  We will install white plexiglass behind each of the panels to diffuse and distribute the light evenly across the panels of stained glass.  We would much prefer natural daylight but we have had a lot of success with artificial lighting in church and museum settings and i am confident that they will look great when installed.  The deadline for these five may be as late as May but there are other windows in the chapel due sooner that i haven’t even designed yet.  i’d better stop writing and start drawing.

The Following blurb was written for the public display of the designs at the Veterans Center.  All of the funds for the stained glass are being raised privately.  Oh, by the way, the Vets Center loved the design and it is a “go”.

Joe

Waves of History

The focus of attention in the new non-denominational Chapel must be inspirational to a special audience.  When I first saw the ensemble of five windows, I felt that it was important that they form one expansive composition.

Throughout our shared history, men and woman have devoted themselves to great causes, defending the helpless and projecting the universal ideals of free will and democratic principles to all corners of the globe.  In my design, the central figure represents the personal experience of all who serve.  His attention is on his children but their gaze extends beyond the purple mountains and waves of grain, to a promise of liberty that is more than mere personal opportunity.  From the wings, those who have served, from Lexington and Concord to Afganistan and Iraq, give witness and appreciate the reflections of a young Marine.

These five windows, as well as others to adorn the new Chapel, will be fabricated at our studio in Historic Germantown.

All the ancient techniques of stained glass will be employed throughout the custom fabrication.  Each piece will be individually selected from a range of hundreds of colors then hand cut to pattern.

The technique of vitreous glass painting was developed during the Middle Ages and has changed little to this day.  Powered iron pigment, mixed with finely ground glass is applied to the glass using various mediums.  While the paint is applied with a brush, the effect is more like drawing, where a piece of blue glass is made to resemble a soldier’s tunic or flesh-tinted glass is drawn and shaded as faces and hands.  When the draftsmanship is completed, the painted pieces of glass are inserted in a kiln and “fired” at the melting point of 1200 degrees, permanently fusing the paint to the glass.

Other special techniques to be employed include etching flashed glass.  Flashed glass is created when the glass blower gathers clear glass on the blowpipe.  Before he enlarges the bubble that will form the sheet, he coats the bubble with molten glass of another color, such as red or blue.  The result is a sheet of clear glass with a thin layer of dense color on one side.  We will then use hydrofluoric acid to etch away the colored layer to reveal the clear glass underneath.  In this manner, we will create red and white stripes as well as white stars on a blue field.

Lead strips called cames are laid between the glass pieces to assemble the window into a flexible matrix.  The assembled window is waterproofed and fitted with steel reinforcing to strengthen it for the ages.

This will be the first among many entries. A  chronicle of a craft, a business and a life.  A life as an artist, thinking and working in an ancient medium.

One of my current design projects is for Saint Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in San Diego California.  I received an e-mail from Reverend Gismondi who described the Church’s desire for a single new stained glass  rose  window six feet in diameter.  This Church observes a very traditional liturgy with all Masses said in Latin.  Father outlined their plan for a window that illustrated the Trinity.  Located directly above the Altar, this window would undoubtedly be the focal point during worship.  Saint Anne’s was an older church building in a Renaissance and they were undertaking a plan for renovations to include an entire new Altar as well as the new rose window directly above.  Father specifically mentioned the work of one particular Bavarian studio from the turn-of-the-twentieth century.  This admiration for the Bavarian School is not unusual.  When Catholics today think of stained glass, they are very likely imagining a collection of Bavarian windows from a church where they grew up.  I e-mailed some images to Father including a depiction of God the Father as shown in a window we are currently restoring for another church in South Carolina.  Father liked what I sent and I promised to begin sketching.  All this was back in the autumn.

On November 14^th, I had a heart attack while driving on the Schuylkill’s expressway.  I knew what was happening and I was angry.  Someone my age (58), who plays tennis five times a week is not supposed to have these complications.  Nevertheless, I recognized exactly what was happening, and one hour and ten minutes later I had two stents installed to open a blocked artery on my heart.

I further learned that all the arteries around my heart were clogged.  So I decided to “go for it” and on December 20^th, I underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

Of course, medical emergencies make for excellent excuses as to why I hadn’t accomplished more and sooner.  Now I’m back in gear and making progress but designing is a very painstaking practice that is difficult to “hurry up”.

Here is the first design/sketch that I sent to Father.  This was executed on 100% rag (cotton) tracing paper. This is very expensive tracing paper but durable through changes and will allow me to transfer the design to a proper piece of paper that will take watercolors.  He immediately liked it but he was sharing the design with a committee and they objected to the angels I had placed around the perimeter.  I said I would do another version without the angels.   The durability of the fine tracing paper allowed me to  simply erase the angels and avoid starting the drawing all over again.

This is the first version of the design i forwarded to the Pastor.

Another request for a design modification involved the Dove.  Father asked if I could have the rays that presently surround the Dove project downward, to direct attention downward to the Altar below.  To accomplish this, I realized that the Dove would have to move upward in the composition or else there would not be much room for the rays to project downward.  Once again I set about erasing element and redrawing them.  I raised the dove up to Christ’s midsection.  I wasn’t so sure they would like this but I had to let them see it.  I also decided that I would let them see yet another modification.  The subject of the window was to be the Trinity.  Which, as far as I could see, did not require a strict version of a crucifix.   If I eliminated the cross, I would have more area to illustrate the space between the two figures.  I decided to risk letting the client see the next version without the cross.  Here it is.

The revised design with changes. The Angels are gone and so is the cross.

I forwarded this version out to Father in San Diego and waited for a response.  Father liked nearly everything I had done but told me that the parish of Saint Anne’s was very traditional and that they would require that the cross be there.  I said “fine”, the cross would go back, no big deal.  I promised a color version as soon as I could arrange it.

In the meantime, my health situation was also progressing apace and I had arranged to meet with one of the best heart surgery teams in Philadelphia.  Anxious to “get on with it”, arranged to proceed with coronary bypass surgery the week before Christmas.

That’s another story altogether.  Let’s just say that everything went extremely well.  Dr. Linda Bogar managed to bypass all four arteries that supplied my heart. The surgery was on Tuesday and I went home on Friday.  I can’t say enough about the surgical team and my care at Einstein Hospital in Philly.

Meanwhile, while I was recuperating at home, I received an e-mail from Father Gismondi inquiring about progress on the design.  Again I used my medical situation as an excuse.

Now I’m back at work on it.  I have transferred the design to a proper piece of 100% cotton illustration board (Strathmore 300lb. hot press).  I needed to design a proper decorative border to go around the perimeter of the design.  This was immensely time consuming because it must work-out perfectly and end symmetrically.  This occupied many hours of tedious transferring/coping.  Perhaps some other time I’ll explain this process.  I also spent hours “tuning up” the imagery of faces, hands, drapery, etc.  Now I was ready to begin painting.

Detail of tracing version without the cross.

The following  two photos show  progress on the water coloring, which, thus far, has taken approximately two 7 hour sessions.

Working away with watercolors.

Note the repeating border around the perimeter. Also, the cross has reappeared.

Great News!   As I post this, i have received an e-mail from Father Gismondi declaring their enthusiasm for the finished design.  I promised to send a poster-sized version, complete with some illustrations of the process and captions to help raise interest (and funding) for the project.

We will follow this window as it progresses from planning through actual execution.  more on this in later posts.

Here is the finished version as a competed watercolor in 3" = 1',0" scale. The actual size of the watercolor image is 18" in diameter.