"remembered Light" Stained Glass Exhibition

Remembered Light is an exhibition of 25 contemporary stained glass windows commemorating the devastation of WWII bombings at the Veterans Building first floor gallery in San Francisco. Presented by the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, the windows were created in 2003 by 13 contemporary artists produced by Atelier Le Roux in Oakland. Each features fragments of medieval, renaissance and modern glass from churches in Europe collected by Army Chaplain Frederick McDonald. The exhibition runs through November 20 Wednesdays through Sundays from 1 to 6 pm. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.

Remembered Light features a collection of 25 windows by artists Craig Clemens, Joseph DiStefano, Peter Eichhorn, Misty Gamble, Marc Le Rest, Armelle Le Roux, Constance Levathes, Ariana Makau, Narcissus Quagliata, Alan Rhodes, Robert Shank, Irmigard Steding and Daniel Ziegler. Each artist used shards of glass from damaged and destroyed European churches collected during World War II by the late US Army Episcopal chaplain Frederick McDonald. McDonald, who served under General Omar Bradley in the 12th Army Group through war-torn Europe, collected pieces of stained glass and other mementos from desecrated sanctuary sites he visited from 1944 to 1945 after he first encountered a church in England destroyed by bombing and was heartbroken by the ruins.

Each of the artists in Remembered Light incorporated the glass fragments into pieces that interpret themes of loss, devastation, and continual striving for peace. Each piece includes a transcript from McDonald’s memory of the specific location and events related to it. The artists used McDonald’s notes from World War II, his recollections after the war, and their own research to create the original artworks. The scenes memorialized in the pieces speak directly to the origin of the shards—bombings in England, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Most of the art pieces combine various glass techniques, such as leaded glass