On January 16^th the Stained Glass Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Parish Finance Commission, via the pastor, that Stephen Wilson Studios be commissioned to produce stained glass windows for the four south-facing windows of St. Andrew Church, and develop design drawings for some other church windows. If the Finance Commission approves the recommendation the Stained Glass Committee will work with the artist to develop a final design, build, and install the windows, which would likely be complete by the end of 2020.
 
This recommendation evolved after almost a year of due diligence that included study of stained glass techniques, visits to churches, presentations to parishioners, interviews with artists and a lot of prayer by a committee that included artists, engineers, business people, a liturgist, and our pastor.
 
A mid-December presentation of candidate artists and their styles after Masses was very successful in raising awareness of the project. Consistent themes of “figurative art”, “brightness” “traditional”, and “color” were voiced by more than 200 parishioners who responded to the December displays. These were important in the committee decision making and will be important in guidance to the artist.
 
The committee was also encouraged by two other aspects of the response that weekend:

• There is no objection to adding stained glass to our worship space environment within the worshiping community at St. Andrew. This is important since that was one of our original concerns.

• Each of the artists and the fabrication company received support from a significant portion of those who commented on the exhibit. This is also important.  It means that the committee was successful in our task of searching out artists for our installation.  None of those we chose were without enthusiastic approval from some members of our assembly.

 
Stephen Wilson was selected because of the spirituality of his work and high level of artistry. He has demonstrated the ability to produce pictorial, rather than abstract, sacred art that is faithful to our Catholic tradition and yet provides fresh insight into our traditional symbols. The Committee believes this balance of classic and fresh insight is best suited to our new church structure and the future of our young, growing parish. Stephen Wilson is a nationally recognized, award winning and very experienced artist with a long list of successful commissions.

Stephen Wilson Stained Glass - http://www.stephenwilsonstainedglass.com/
 
Please revisit this web site as more details of the project are developed and look for a series of church bulleting articles that will explore different aspects of this work.
 
As always, your comments to our suggestion box email (glass@standrewsaline.org) are welcome.