As a long term project, I would like to master the design of stained glass in complex architectural settings. This is a difficult and subtle discipline. My study has taken three facets:

(Be sure to visit the other main sections of the site which explain the context for such a study.)

Stained Glass Magazine

For the last twenty years, I've been subscribing to Stained Glass Quarterly and noting the features of designs therein. I've scanned a few of those here for your study. These images lack the life that real glass has and the scale of encounter of the windows. But at least you'll get transmitted light instead of reflected light. I'd be interested in your remarks on what makes these successful. E-mail me at tedg@sirius-beta.com. (I have a good understanding of form. What I lack is the influence of colored space on form.)

You should consider subscribing to Stained Glass Quarterly. It is better than most books in print and cheaper too. It is by and for artists, so you get a better perspective than just about any other source. All of the images in this section are copyright by them. I hope they won't mind my sharing these images, as they are low, low resolution.

Click here for the first of the thumbnail indices.

Click here for the first image. If you do nothing after one minute, it automatically moves to the next one, so you can leave it open all day if you want. Click here to open this in a new window.

The Tree of Jesse Window

Most of the images in the set above are nonecclesiastical, but that's just because most church windows are lifeless. But not this one. It is one of the oldest whole windows we have, first created between 1140 and 1150. It is remarkable for four reasons:

• The glass. Fine glass is designed so that microprisms deliver millions of images to the eye, but the color seen by the left differs slightly. Fresh snow is like this; it's still but moving. Glass does this with internal imperfections and flow lines. But extraordinary glass is "flashed" meaning it is a sandwich of different glasses. often neither glass is the color you see. This glass is extraordinary, even through grime. The art was lost in the 13th century.
• The integration of the light with the architecture. Though originally placed elsewhere, the designer of built space seems at one with the designer of build light. And this is the case as the light changes, reinventing the space.
• The way colors are mixed. This is pretty well studied. Here is an explanation.
• The symbolism of most medieval art is rather mundane, but this is fascinating stuff, in touch with prechristian and kabbalistic magic while still maintaining the mystery of the idea. Here is a summary of the symbolism.

The window is different each moment and is notoriously difficult to photograph. Here are five photos. (each is 1100 pixels tall.) One Two Three Four Five. Or you can see all five smaller in one view here.

Finally, I've stacked the central sections (1500 pixels) so you can see the detail better.

I recommend two books which you can get from Amazon about this which are pretty good: The Armor of Light and The Narratives of Gothic Stained Glass. The reprinted diary of Henry Adams concerning his discovery of this and related gothic space is something you must read, because it shows how space influences ideas. Or for a more challenging read, I really like Architecture as Metaphor.

The Work of Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly is the greatest living glass artist, and perhaps one of the most important artists today. This is a piece I wrote as a journalistic exercise. (It is moderately heavy in graphics, so may take a while to load.)