Vitreosity

McDonald Peace Windows Project

A different 'variations on a peace-themed' window project -

I heard about the McDonald Peace Window project some time ago, but was prompted to research a bit by this new article in the Tacoma News Tribune on the current exhibit at the Washington State History Museum. At first, I only came upon another article, in the Seattle Times. Finally I found the official McDonald Memorial Peace Windows Project website. At the official site, there is information on the overall story of the project and descriptions of the individual panels, as well as information on the artists who worked on the project. Though, oddly, no info on which artists worked on which panels.

The general story, in brief, from that site -

In his war travels, Father McDonald made a habit of stopping at sanctuaries victimized by the conflict. On these visits he picked up broken fragments of stained glass from the rubble. .... For 55 years the glass was kept in a cardboard box... One evening in 1999, three years before Fred McDonald died, he shared the story of the shards with astonished friends around the dinner table.... Till the end of his life, Fred’s stories captivated people.... He remembered his interactions with men and women struggling to survive the conflict. As he talked about those meetings, Armelle conceived of a series of windows, each with its own brief story.

This panel is #19, with fragments from Kolner Dome, Germany - also known as Cologne Cathedral, the one that recently dedicated the Gerhard Richter Window.

and this is #20, The Russian Chapel, Weisbaden, Germany. A very simple design, yet I like the idea of using the fragments for the figure rather than fitting them inconspicuously into the border or background.

Who, in these turbulent times, cannot sympathize with a work of art that is a plea for peace. I like the idea of using fragments of old panels within contemporary designs. I see it as a kind of dialogue over centuries.

Dialogue is good, and especially important seeing that the theme is peace...

Posted by Tom at February 3, 2008 11:13 AM