The Stained-glass windows of Emmanuel Baptist Church Alexandria, Louisiana. 

 

Rose Window

For the next few weeks, I intend to write about the notable stained-glass windows of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Alexandria, Louisiana.  They were created by the Jacoby Stained Glass Company of St. Louis, Missouri and designed by James Blackford. There are only a few windows designed by James Blackford in America. More about him later.  Emmanuel Baptist has several of them.

 First, I’ll give a brief history of the church.

 On September 6, 1881, the first Southern Baptist church was formed with twelve charter members and named the Alexandria-Pineville Baptist church.  They met in Pineville, Louisiana on second street near the red river.

 In 1896-97 the church moved across the river to Alexandria and changed its name to Emmanuel Baptist church.  Their second sanctuary was completed and dedicated.

           In 1916, the church building burned.  The congregation met at the Rapides Opera House (Which later became the Paramount Theater.)

           In 1918 a three story Educational/Sanctuary building was built on the same property.  The sanctuary was on the second floor with a three-sided balcony. This was their third sanctuary.

           On September 10, 1950, the present sanctuary was built and dedicated on the corner of Jackson Street and Fourth where the second sanctuary had been before it burned.

 In the late 1940's it was decided that there would be stained glass windows in the new sanctuary.

 A committee was formed – after all Baptists are known for forming committees for about any occasion.  I’m sure that somewhere in the archives of the history of Emmanuel there is a record of the committee members. I'm sure that the chairman was probably a Bolton, (although, I speculate).  I picture them gathered all together on the first floor of our three-story educational building, which we call Weems Hall, formerly the Fellowship hall, as they thought deeply about the new sanctuary that was to be built and how they wanted it to be glorious for the community as well as a tribute to God.  I'm sure there was discussion as to whether they should have a fund-raising campaign or if individual members would cover the cost of such windows.   Well, the windows were eventually purchased by the church with plans for individual members to purchase all or part of them as memorials.  A plaque was to be placed under each window to indicate who purchased it and to whom the memorial was for.  As the discussion became more verbal, I'm sure they formed another committee to decide the design of the plaques.  Since Jacoby Glass Company would not allow the church to place a plaque under each window until all the windows were completed and installed and since it was unclear as to what windows would be purchased and when, the committee decided that the plaques would be at the back of the sanctuary.

 Our beautiful Gothic Sanctuary was to have twenty windows total.   After discussions with Jacoby the designs were agreed upon by the committee and work began in St. Louis, Mo. 

 The lower section would consist of Jesus' life from the announcement of his birth until he ascended to heaven, while the upper windows would depict the parables.   

 However, there was a fly in the soup.  Somewhere the ladies of the Women's Missionary Union noted that the building would be missing a window on the West side, opposite the bell tower.  There were nine windows and the bell tower on the East side but only nine windows on the West side.  There was a blank spot toward the front of the sanctuary opposite the bell tower.  There needed to be an extra window to balance the space and it should highlight the Women’s Missionary Union. I can imagine the discussion that went over that little flaw.  And I can imagine that there was a discussion. into the night during a business meeting.  Well, as anyone knows, you do not cross the WMU ladies when they have a bee in their bonnet.  They immediately began raising money to purchase one more window. Which they did and helped plan.  This window, although similar in design to the others on the upper level had its own individual features which I can discuss later.

The WMU window

 So, because the ladies of the church stood their ground, there are twenty-one windows at Emmanuel, not twenty as the church originally planned: nine on the west side, ten on the east, the rose window above the entrance and the baptistry window behind the choir loft.

The stained-glass windows:    

 The stained-glass windows were installed when the present sanctuary was built. They are traditional leaded stained-glass windows placed in chronological order. (This is rare for stained-glass windows to be placed in this order.)

 On the lower level, the east windows are considered the Advent Windows while the west are considered the Easter Windows.

 The upstairs windows are of the parables.

These windows were designed and cartooned by James Blackford, a master craftsman who came from England to work with Jacoby. They were painted by Tom Dixon who also came with Blackford from England.

 According to Jacoby company, there are only a few noted Blackford-Stained Glass windows in America: St. John's Episcopal in Ft. Worth, Texas, Emmanuel Baptist, Alexandria, Louisiana and St. James Episcopal in Wichita, Kansas.

The Baptistery window.  The words, JACOBY-STAINED GLASS, ST. LOUIS, MO.  is signed in the lower right side of the Baptistery window.

 I realize that not everyone will be interested in the following, but it is important.

 All these windows were fabricated using handmade, mouth blown antique glass (antique class was required to be 100 years old) and painted in the traditional Trace and Matte technique of glass painting:  Using the drawing as a template, the glass is selected and cut, and each piece of glass is individually painted using glass paint. The paint is then fired, heating the glass to approximately 650 degrees centigrade in a furnace. When all the glass has been painted it is assembled into panels by bending the ‘H' section strips of lead around the pieces of glass and soldering the strips together where they meet.

 The style of these windows is a mixture. The figurines and robes are in the Munich style.  Most Munich school windows have a very distinct characteristic. The figures are highly realistic, painted in a German Baroque style.  (See the figures in the above windows.)

 The borders, background, symbols, and the quotes are a modernized version of the Gothic Revival style. Gothic Revival Style was one of the most influential styles in the 19^th century. Designs were based on forms and patterns of the Middle Ages.  (You will see this style next week when I show the complete windows on the lower level.)

 Some of the antique glass is “flashed” which means that the base glass color (usually clear) is fused to another thin layer of color. This enables the glass artist to sandblast or acid-etch one of the layers to create special color shading and effects in a single piece of glass. There is some use of silver stain which is a combination of chemicals blended with pipe clay and applied to clear glass. (usually silver nitrate or silver sulfide) Pipe clay is a fine white clay.

 Producing a strong clear yellow was difficult in early stained glass because it relied upon the careful control of heated furnace. The introduction of silver stain in the early 14^th century provided a solution to this difficulty, and allowed greater flexibility in the way in which color could be used. It enabled a more flexible approach to glass painting, allowing, for example, the hair of a figure to be painted on the same piece of glass as the head. It was also used to highlight details.

 Most of the glass that is used in the windows from the Jacoby Art Glass Co. is antique glass made in the traditional pot metal method. (When the glasses are in a molten state in a metal pot, chemicals are introduced to create the different colors. Then a gather (a soft blob of glass) is attached to the end of a blowpipe. A glass blower blows the glass into the shape of a large cylinder about 30 inches long. The cylinder is detached from the pipe, the top and bottom removed, and scored along the side. The glass is then put into an oven where, as it is heated, it uncurls, and becomes a flat sheet about 30 inches by 30 inches.

 Because of the way it is made, by hand and by utilizing mouth-blowing techniques, there are faults (streaks, bubbles, and striations) in the glasses. Also, the glass is not of uniform thickness throughout the entire sheet. The streaks, bubbles and striations break up the light as it passes through the glass creating vibrant highlights that make the glass seem to sparkle. The varying thickness makes certain areas of the glass seem deeper and richer in their coloring. You can see these bubbles, streaks, and striations in these windows.

 Since each sheet of glass is somewhat unique, the antique glass allows the glass artist a very large pallet with which to work. He can use the glass as it is, or he can paint the glass with glass paint. With acid or sandblasting, he can etch the glass to create more than one color in an individual glass. He can stain the glass, or he can plate the glass (superimposing one or more glasses over a base glass to create a special color or visual effect).

 Well enough of this art class.  On my next blog I will show the five Advent windows and I’ll highlight some of the Christian symbols and their meanings.

© Nippy Blair 2015. Posts and pictures on this blog cannot be copied, downloaded, printed, or used without the permission of the blog owner, Nippy Blair.