FYI: People
Obituaries
Marie L. Snell
Marie L. Snell, a well-known Michigan stained glass artist, passed away December 23, 2009 in Laramie, Wyoming. She had resided in Michigan all of her life (b. May 15, 1924) until ill health mandated that she move closer to one of her daughters.
Marie received a Bachelor of Design from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and served in the Marine Corps, during World War II. She met her late husband John in the Marine Corps and they married in 1948. Marie worked in the Detroit Public School system until she “found” stained glass, which then was the main focus of her life.
From 1975 to 1992, Marie organized or was involved in many stained glass exhibitions, including at least two which were juried and held at Le Gallerie de Vitral in Chartres, France. Marie was instrumental in the organization of the Michigan Glass Guild, which held many all-member exhibitions in Pontiac, MI, at the Oakland County Galleria. She also wrote numerous articles which were published in various stained glass venues.
Marie’s stained glass work was generally autonomous panels, frequently portraits, always using the copper foil technique, and with many small pieces to delineate shadows and facial features.
Marie leaves two daughters: Jane, in Wyoming, and Florence, in Oregon. Text provided by Martin and Saara Gallin and Barbara Krueger. Photo by Barbara Krueger.
Frances Overton Wysocki
It is with great sadness that I report the death of my mother, Frances Overton Wysocki, on May 11, 2010, who was the wife of Robert Wysocki, founder of Stained Glass Associates in Raleigh, North Carolina.
She was a long-time Associate Member of the Stained Glass Association of America and attended many Annual Summer Conferences of the Association throughout the United States. She was actively engaged in operating every aspect of the studio with her husband from 1958 until 2002, when her husband died. The studio’s installations can be seen in 36 states, Sweden, the Chilean Embassy, and on the USS Bataan.
Frances Wysocki is survived by her daughter Theresa Masters and her husband Glen Masters of Acworth, GA; her son Timothy Wysocki of Youngsville, NC; and her daughter Annette Wysocki and her husband John Nussbaum of Jackson, MS. – Annette Wysocki
Hendrik van de Burgt
Henk, as his friends and family knew him, died at the age of 96 on December 11, 2009. He was a stained glass artist, muralist, and mosaicist; his work is in houses of worship around the world.
He was born September 18, 1913, in Arnhem, Holland, the youngest of 10 children. He studied and taught stained glass art at Kunst Oefing in Arnhem from 1931 to 1937, where he met his wife, Pauline. His first large window, created for his parish church in Arnhem, was destroyed during World War II.
In 1951, he wrote letters of employment inquiries to studios in the United States and Australia. Karl Barrea Lamb along with his wife and daughter, Barea, traveled to Arnhem to interview and ultimately invite him and his family to come to work at the J & R Lamb Studios in Tenafly, New Jersey.
After several years, he decided to become an independent artist and struck out on his own, obtaining commissions directly with churches and also through other studios. He developed a long-time relationship with Michael and Son in Englewood, NJ, and Staten Island, NY, while maintaining a full-time work load with Lamb Studios. In the 1980s, he began designing for Wilmark Studios, in Pearl River, NY, and Holy Land Art Company in Westwood, NJ.
He was a walking encyclopedia of biblical art, serving churches and synagogues like a minister and rabbi as he created reverent spaces of worship. He could readily quote and translate into art passages from the Bible. This is the trait that set him apart, that made him a great artist, as he interpreted and created his own masterpieces of art.
Henk specialized in Eastern Orthodox and Jewish art, while enjoying designing for his own faith, the Roman Catholic Church. A few of his many synagogues are: Joliet Jewish Center, Joliet, IL; Temple Emeth, Chestnut Hill, MA; Sutton Place Synagogue, New York City, NY; Congregation Beth Sholom, Lawrence, Long Island, NY; Temple Beth Tikvah, New Milford, NJ; Lincoln Park Jewish Center, Yonkers, NY.
He designed all the church windows in Santa Barbara’s Catholic Church in Dededo, Guam and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wrangell, Alaska.
One of his largest commissions was for St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church in Staten Island for Michael and Son Studios, where he designed a 22-foot-by-45-foot altar window plus other smaller windows, totaling 2,400 square feet of stained glass. He also created the stained glass for the Mausoleum Chapel at Holy Resurrection Cemetery in Staten Island.
A major commission he secured by himself was a complete series of windows for St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Anaheim, CA.
The state of Michigan boasts several Catholic and Orthodox churches with his artwork, including Guardian Angel Catholic Church, St. Jude’s Catholic Church and St. John the Baptist Romanian Greek Catholic Church, all in Detroit.
Through Holy Land Art Company in Westwood, NJ, several churches in Las Vegas, Nevada, are adorned with his work.
At the ripe old age of 75, he was painting murals off of a scaffold at St. Mary’s Carpatho Russian Greek Orthodox Church in Yonkers, NY.
Many synagogues and churches were commissioned through Wilmark Studios; Congregation Beth Aaron of Teaneck, NJ was one of note.
He designed all the windows in his home parish, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Closter, NJ, where the service was held for the funeral mass. Mark Liebowitz of Wilmark Studio remarked how fitting it was that, would come together to honor him and find ourselves surrounded and embraced by his work. All of the figures are tall and thin and slightly stooped, and, suddenly, they all resembled Henk.
Mark remembers commenting to Henk that the hands he painted in his windows reminded him of Henk’s own hands. He said, “of course,” they are always right there to be models as he drew. And then Mark was back at the funeral mass seeing Henk throughout. Mark stated, “I often thought and observed that a person’s art is self-portraiture, in one sense or another.”
Many of Henk’s watercolor designs are in the archives of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, where they can be viewed on the Library of Congress website under the title Lamb Collection. A detailed list of his commissions can be found there or by contacting Wilmark Studios, J & R Lamb Studios, Holy Land Art Company, or Michael & Son Studios.
Whenever Henk viewed his finished work, he would say, “It could have been done better.” He was an egoless artist, always trying to please the patron, never imposing his will on others. It is hard to conceive of the enormous amount of artwork that he created in 70-plus years. It is estimated that he created more than 2,000 windows for more than 600 churches. He was an untiring worker who never said no to any commissions. He always had time and energy to give; he was a Renaissance man, who pushed the envelope of his God-given abilities to create and was working up until his death. It was only a week before he died that we spoke about beginning three more windows for a church in Georgia; he never retired.
He will be remembered by his family, colleagues, and friends as a gentle person who always had a kind word and spoke his mind on political and social issues. His art touched many souls, and the world is a better place for him having walked the earth. In an interview in 1995, he was quoted, “Every artist has his own Christ; I don’t want them too sweet… I want more strength in it… a face that expresses love, strength, and direction toward the human being.”
He is survived by his wife Pauline; daughters Ancilla, Rensje Laube, and Frances. Predeceased was his daughter Veritas.
Donations in his memory may be sent to Doctors Without Borders.
– Donald Samick
Jon Kuhn and Al Priest Present Cross to Pope Benedict XVI
North Carolina glass artist Jon Kuhn announced today that he and his representative, Al Priest, president of Salem Stained Glass, have been granted a September 29 audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome to present the gift of a radiant Kuhn cross to the Pontiff. The 321?2 x 19-inch work of art contains 15,000 facets of clear optical grade crystal and symbolizes the Light of God. The center of the cross is tinged with crimson to represent the Sacred Heart.
Acknowledgment of the gift was made on April 28 by the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, during a preview presentation by Kuhn and Priest of the cross at the Apostolic Nunciature (embassy) in Washington, DC.
The artist said that the Archbishop’s reaction on seeing the cross for the first time was “immediate. He got it right away,” said Kuhn, who heard the archbishop remark that he thought the Pope will be very pleased “and would want to use it in his Masses.” In an email to friends and patrons the next day, Kuhn wrote that he was “honored and humbled” by the experience.
The cross that will be presented to Pope Benedict in the autumn is the first of a variety of Kuhn crystal crosses designed and created by the artist under an agreement between Kuhn Studio and Salem Stained Glass for the marketing of Kuhn Sacred Glass. Kuhn Sacred Glass includes crystal crosses and other religious objects created by Kuhn as well as stained glass windows inset with Kuhn’s jewel-like glass that are created by Salem Stained Glass owner Al Priest and his artists. Salem Stained Glass is an Accredited Member of the Stained Glass Association of America. The Pope’s Cross contains 15,000 facets of optical grade crystal that reflect light with the extraordinary depth and brilliance that has made Kuhn a leading light in the world of art glass.
Kuhn’s cold glass sculptures are known for their unusual radiance, in which light refracts from intricately crafted core crystal of different colors through painstakingly built-up layers of astonishingly clear glass. His works include cubes, circles, wedges, and other more complex geometric shapes, including clusters of turning pendulums that hang from the ceiling like splendid icicles and the $1.2 million Kuhn-Bösendorfer piano, a 7’4″ concert grand piano inlaid and inset with Kuhn’s brilliant work.
Jon Kuhn’s works are included in the permanent collections of more than 40 museums, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Carnegie Museum, National Museum of American Art, and The White House Permanent Collection. The artist’s work has been prized by collectors for many years and is represented by major art galleries on three continents.
