Stained Glass

“My involvement with glass began in 1956, when I joined with my professor (Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas) to establish a stained glass studio in New York City. We learned the craft from two journeymen of the renowned Zettler-Mayer Company in Germany; one of whom remained with us as shop foreman. An incorrigible experimenter, I developed a number of new techniques and processes over the years, and received major architectural commissions.

“Glass is an elusive medium. Brightly colored or colorless, transparent or opaque, worked hot, cold, flat, bent, cut or polished, the range for artistic translation is limitless. One of my special interests in designing glass for specific spaces. The solutions emerge out of an understanding of the architectural style, and the particular functions of space and light. When well conceived and executed, the blending of space, glass and the primal, ever changing element — light — creates a vital, visual environment. Each space provides a very exciting challenge.” –D.A.S.

Churches

1963 | St. Joseph’s Provincialate, Latham, New York
Don understood that working with glass is really working with light. His understanding is especially apparent in the 600-seat chapel at St. Joseph’s Provincial House. The booklet produced at the time of its opening describes Don’s technique: “Dispersed throughout the windows are pieces of ‘chunk’ stained glass, irregularly chipped fragments, which catch the light and sparkle like jewels.” With each of the twenty-four windows, Don crafted a graphic expression using color and symbols to depict a story of Christian virtues. Each window measures twenty-one feet tall and four and one half feet wide. The centerpiece of this site, these windows still refract, glow, and tell a story with light to this day.

“It is altogether necessary to give a free hand to that contemporary art which, with due reverence and honor, serves the sacred places and sacred rites. Thus it becomes possible for contemporary art also to join its voice to the admirable canticle of glory that the masters raised in past centuries to the Catholic faith.” –Pope Pius XII

–From St. Joseph’s Provincialate dedication booklet, June 20, 1963

Click on image grids to enlarge.

Special thanks to Warren Lynn, photographer of all interior photos shown here of the chapel at St. Joseph’s Provincialate, which were taken in 2016. ©Photo used by permission of Warren Lynn, all rights reserved. Do not use or share these photos without prior permission of photographer.

1963 | St. Jude Church, Derby, Connecticut

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1974 | Mercy Hospital Chapel, Baltimore, Maryland
For this project, the hospital’s 100-year-old chapel was torn down to build a new wing. Don developed an approach to knit selected stained glass elements from the old chapel with his new designs. The architects and Don received the “Honor Award for Architectural Excellence” from the Maryland Society of AIA for their work. Concept drawing along with one of the final window installations shown below.

Click on image grids to enlarge.

Unknown Installation

Click on image grids to enlarge.

Unknown Installation

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1982 | St. Stephen Catholic Center, Ona, West Virginia
”The glass window concept at St. Stephen’s is unique. The stained glass is developed as a directional graphic that takes you on a journey. Starting from a single point at eye level, it forms an expanding, color transcending band that cuts through the etched, vertical lines of the polished plate glass and wraps around the narthex and meditation chapel.

“The culmination of the journey is the tabernacle window where the expanding line ends in a dramatic ‘X’ cross form. Mounted on forged bronze straps, centered on the ‘X’ is a crystal glass and bronze tabernacle. A large circle in the stained glass of the chapel doors centers the tabernacle and focuses that special window on the opposite end of the chapel.” –D.A.S.

1983-1984 | Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, Centerport, New York
Don was the interior design and liturgical consultant for this project. He designed all interior furnishings, which included stained glass windows, a glass and bronze tabernacle, granite appointments and pews.

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1988 | Parish Church of St. Leo, Stamford, Connecticut
Don created a new church building from a gymnasium for St. Leo’s Parish. He was the architectural, interior design, liturgical consultant and artist. He designed stained glass windows, granite appointments, and a repoussé metal tabernacle.

Click on image grids to enlarge.

Secular

“I’ve enclosed some contact prints of the portraits of you and have marked the one that ‘Living’ is using. When I get a little free time, I’ll get some prints of your daughter out to you. By the way, when do want to shoot the stained glass for your show?” –Bruce Pendleton, Photographer, 328 East 53 Street, New York — April 3, 1961.

Photoshoot of Don for the May 1961 publication of “Living”, a monthly magazine featuring an article titled “STAINED GLASS: A craze that’s sweeping the country.”

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1959 (est.) | Unknown Installation

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1959 (est.) | Unknown Installation

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1977 | Dream Sequence, Yankee Stadium
Copper Foil, Stained Glass
20” High, 36” Wide

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1979 | The Visitors
Copper Foil, Stained Glass
32” High, 24” Wide

1980 | The Visitors II
Copper Foil, Stained Glass
23” High, 40” Wide

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1979 | Untitled
Wire faces cased inside of glass.

Click on image grids to enlarge.

1981 | Wood Gnomes in Nite Dress
Cast Glass Heads, Stained Glass
39” High, 22" Wide

Click on image grids to enlarge.

Commercial

1981-1982 | Transparent Stained Glass Concept
With this concept, Don was theorizing and testing design solutions that could integrate stained glass into large-scale contemporary architecture.

Don Shepherd, December, 1981

“This concept is based on the premise that most stained glass does not comfortably interface with a large percentage of contemporary architecture. In addition, it addresses a perceived need for the warming up, or the ‘personalization,’ of our work environments.

“The fact that windows make up a significant portion of the outer surface of some buildings, while often the outside view is less than inspiring, combines to make them a logical forum for this personalization. While most artwork is static, stained glass is energized by colors and textures that are responsive to the constantly changing light.

“It also has the kinetic feature of either the viewer moving past the window and seeing elements of the background through it, or the activity of traffic patterns on the other side that give the viewer a dynamic reading of the window.

“Another important feature often overlooked is the planning of the reflections of the window on interior surfaces. All of the above elements combine to form a vibrant environmental art that brings a quality of adventure and illusion to the space.

“The ideal would be for it to form a continuous connecting belt around a specific portion of a building. One of the key considerations of this concept is the ‘scale relationship’ because there is a distinct scale gap between most stained glass and this type of building. In this case, the integration of large elements of the same plate glass that forms the skin of the building, into the more personal stained glass design, bridges the scale gap.

“There are two additional options that could extend the design range and become important features of the final design solution. First would be etched glass elements, sand blasted lines and/or shaded areas that extend the stained glass solution beyond its traditional boundaries.

“The second, and possibly the most dramatic element — radius corners — would be dependent on the architect first choosing it as part of the vocabulary of the building. With current technology this has now become a viable solution that adds a quality — a third dimension — to an otherwise rather two-dimensional problem.

“This concept is a theory that is directed toward a specific scale of architecture. I believe that it offers some practical solutions and possibly a meeting ground for the artist and architect, and opens up important new stained glass opportunities.” –D.A.S.