unitarian universalist
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unitarian universalist
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The desire to share two largely hidden art treasures with the larger community has launched a lecture series and docent program at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst.
On Sunday, December 10 at 2:00 p.m., Julie L. Sloan, a nationally renowned stained glass consultant, will speak on Opalescent Images: The Stained Glass of Tiffany and La Farge.
The talk is the second in a series of public lectures on the history of stained glass offered at the Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse, 121 North Pleasant St., Amherst. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Refreshments will follow. Framed photographs of the Meetinghouse's own Tiffany and LaFarge windows will also be available for purchase -- just in time for holiday giving.
John La Farge (1835-1910) and Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), America's best-known stained-glass artists, revolutionized the craft of stained glass by using opalescent glass, catapulting the medium to a height of popularity unknown since the Middle Ages. Fierce competitors, they rivaled each other throughout their careers, both to obtain the best clients and to create the best artwork, which were sometimes mutually exclusive goals. Their clientele included the cream of American society, who decorated not only their churches with stained glass, but their houses, offices, and mausoleums as well.
Sloan, based in North Adams, MA, has worked in stained glass since 1982 and is the author of Conservation of Stained Glass in America and many articles on stained glass history and conservation. She was adjunct professor of historic preservation at Columbia University, where she taught stained glass restoration from 1985 until 1997. She curated an exhibition and wrote two major books on the leaded glass of Frank Lloyd Wright, Light Screens: The Complete Leaded-Glass Windows of Frank Lloyd Wright and Light Screens: The Leaded Glass of Frank Lloyd Wright (exhibition catalog).
She is currently writing books on the stained glass of artist John La Farge, of muralist Frederic Crowninshield, and of the Prairie School, and is writing a comprehensive history of American stained glass. Her conservation and research projects have won many awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Samuel Kress Foundation, the Graham Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, and the Arts & Crafts Fund.
A third lecture in the series is to be scheduled early next year.
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| The La Farge (left) and Tiffany
(right) windows at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst. (Click on either image to see a larger version.) | ||
The Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst has also created a way for area residents and visitors enjoy the historic windows at other times. Those who call the meetinghouse at 253-2848 can arrange to view the windows with a knowledgeable guide.