LaVada along with myself and the church committee met at the church to discuss what they are looking for. They liked the look of a design drawn by Pamela Shapiro and created by myself a few years back. But, they wanted it to be their own design and include significant remembrances. There were to be two hearts signifying the love between herself and her husband. He loved to fish, they wanted to include a fish net representing the story of Jesus and the fishermen, and the sky should be oranges, yellows and reds. This is still a preliminary drawing but I like the direction it is going in.
As often happens, the money they had set aside for this project and the cost did not match. I will be working with LaVada and the church to work out possible solutions. My approach when working with churches or any customer for that matter, is to come up with a design that fits their budget if possible. From there, I will continue designing until I come up with a design I am really happy with. Sometimes I can do that within their price range and sometimes I can't. For this project, the drawing shown here will be beyond their financial abilities at this time. My suggestion to them will be to consider the simpler design that may not exactly fit their vision, or choose the design they really like and do the project in steps.
What it will require to make this work is for a carpenter to remove the existing woodwork behind the altar, create a door on hinges that will allow the church to change light bulbs as needed, and create a framework that will allow the stained glass to be installed in sections that will give the longest life to the stained glass.
The glass I will be recommending is Youghiogheny Stipple glass. I love this glass because it looks beautiful with or without light. If the church does not have the money to backlight the window at this time, the windows will still be very beautiful with the existing lighting in the church. Money for the lighting can be collected and the project finished when they are able to afford it. Generally speaking, there are always options... changing the kind of glass used, changing the intricacy of the design, adding elements as money becomes available.
One thing I know for sure, after my trip to Europe, I repeatedly had overwhelming feelings of serenity by visiting the numerous churches I visited. The artwork told the stories of people who lived, struggled, prayed, celebrated, and died before me. It drew me into a variety of churches where I was able to then experience the goodness of the people that kept each of the churches alive. For that, I am very grateful.
Pat Deere
LINKS: When researching photos to help me draw a boat that would look like one that may have been used during Jesus time, I found these three web sites. Two of them have information about an ancient boat that was pulled from the mud along the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee in 1986.
Sea Of Gallilee
Sacred Destinations, Jesus Boat Museum
Be Fishers Of Men
