Interfaith Center exhibition of 25 contemporary stained glass windows from WWII fragments opens August 27 at War Memorial Veterans Building in San Francisco.
San Francisco, CA, July 14, 2022 – Remembered Light, an exhibition of 25 contemporary stained glass windows commemorating the devastation of WWII bombings opens August 27 at the War Memorial 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 and is open Wednesdays through Sundays 1 to 6 pm. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge, and the Veterans Building is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.interfaithpresidio.org .
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.
During one of his assignments on March 8, 1945, McDonald entered the Gothic Church of Our Lady in Trier, Germany. He wrote of seeing the fallen crucifix on the floor with a statue of the Virgin Mary looking down at it. McDonald observed, as did many soldiers at the end of World War II, the devastation around him and the way the bits of broken glass on the ground shined in the sunlight. He believed that shards from shattered stained-glass windows “might be worked into a memorial window somewhere” after the war. In 2003, 25 works of stained-glass art were crafted by 13 artists using the small fragments collected by McDonald.
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, glass painting, enameling, sandblasting, fusing, slumping, silkscreen, and lampworking. Other media, such as ceramic, wood, acetate and plexiglas have also been used.
Remembered Light contains graphics explaining McDonald’s journey and includes a booklet of his stories, a lit display case of the remaining shards, various archives, and a video produced by McDonald’s family in which he tells the story of his life and what he saw and felt during World War II.
The windows exhibited in Remembering Light will ultimately be incorporated permanently into the transformation of the historic Presidio Chapel as part of an $14 million campaign being undertaken by the Interfaith Center. Lead Artist, Armelle LeRoux, whose projects have included restoration of the stained-glass windows in San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. The Presidio Chapel transformation will include preservation and restoration of the 1931 chapel, upgrades for full accessibility and expanded space for faiths that do not worship in pews as well as the addition of a gallery, education center and conference facilities. Rev. McDonald retired to San Francisco, where he served at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and lived until his death in 2002.
About the Interfaith Center at the Presidio
The Interfaith Center at the Presidio welcomes, serves and celebrates the diverse spiritual wisdom and faith traditions of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Center strives is an active force promoting peace and ministering to veterans and their families. The Center hosts a variety of special interfaith programming at the chapel including interfaith and veterans’ services, concerts, author readings and docent tours.
Graced with a breathtaking view of San Francisco Bay, the Presidio Main Post Chapel maintains the military legacy of serving all religious traditions and is a memorial to those veterans who honorably served their country and now rest in the adjacent San Francisco National Cemetery. Many are commemorated in the plaques that adorn the walls of the chapel. Built in 1931 by the US Army, the chapel’s Spanish Colonial Revival architecture features arched stained-glass windows, a magnificent fresco, a high ceiling with redwood beams, wrought-iron chandeliers and lovely oak doors. Originally serving as a nondenominational military chapel, it now serves as the home for interfaith worship and dialogue.