Community and Cultural Info >>> Pittsburgh
May 18, 2004 - Union Project to Celebrate Window Restoration and Installation
Press Release
Contact: Jessica King
412-363-4550
May 16, 2004
For Immediate Release
Union Project to Celebrate Window Restoration and Installation
The Union Project is hosting a stained glass reinstallation celebration on Saturday June 12, 2004 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Food and refreshments, kid's activities, tours, and stained glass demonstrations will be provided. There will be a short program at 3:00 p.m. State Senator Jim Ferlo and Representative Joseph Preston will be honored for their support of the Union Project.
The Union Project is renovating the century-old former Union Baptist Church
located at the intersection of East Liberty and Highland Park and is devoted to
turning the historic building into gathering and working space for artists,
community builders and people of faith.
Faced with the daunting but immediately necessary problem of restoring the
building’s over 100 stained and leaded glass windows the Union Project proposed
a million dollar solution – offer stained glass restoration classes and use the
former church’s windows as class material. Now, less than a year later, the
Union Project invites the community to help celebrate the project and the hard
work of all of the glass class members with the completion and reinstallation of
the first 30 windows. Some 70 people have participated in the seven classes to
date with many more volunteers assisting in cleaning windows, preparing window
openings for reinstallation, and painting window trim. Four more classes are
scheduled for the summer and fall.
“This is such an innovative win-win-win solution to the problem of the windows at the Union Project! I learn how to restore my own stained glass…and help a worthy community project at the same time,” says Reverend Teresa Stricklen, Assistant Professor of Homiletics at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, “How cool is that?”
Students in The Union Project stained glass restoration class are taught all aspects of restoration. Each pair, or trio of students depending on the size of the window, restores a stained glass window that has been removed from the 15,000 square foot stone church building. Students are taught how to dismantle each window, clean each piece of glass, cut replacement glass for broken pieces, re-lead, solder and cement each window, attach reinforcement bars, and prepare each window for reinstallation. The June 12 event will celebrate the reinstallation of the fully restored windows complete with a custom-made protective glass storm window.
The restoration work may be dirty and tedious, but doubly rewarding. Says
Stricklen, “My buddy and I have spent three hours laboriously cleaning just one
window. When I told my daughter what I was doing, she said, ‘Let me get this
straight: you're paying them to clean their windows?’ But when I come home and
my children see how excited I am about being involved in my community, they
learn a valuable lesson about what it means to live the good life. Add another
win to this win-win situation.”
For more information about the Union Project and the glass restoration project visit www.unionproject.org.