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Seymour church's sanctuary rising from fire's ashes
Glass crafter in Shelton slowly reassembling historic windows
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| Walt Tucker, director of safety for the Petra Construction Corp., left, talks with Joan Johnson, pastor of the Seymour United Methodist Church, about the great job the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department did while responding to a blaze at the church last year. (Jim Shannon / RA) |
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SHELTON — The puzzle pieces are strewn across several tables in Michael Skrtic's workshop. Thousands of shards, slivers and sections of glass from the Seymour United Methodist Church's 20-some stained glass windows — they sit in boxes and envelopes, on the tables and in warped windows, some still connected to the twisted lead that held the glass for more than a hundred years.
While the congregation is busy picking up the pieces left of their church after an October fire destroyed much of the 116-year-old sanctuary, Skrtic is left with a big task of smaller proportions. Piece by piece, Skrtic will restore every stained glass window from the church, hoping to bring them back to the condition they were in when they were installed in 1891.
While these repairs take place, the congregation worships in an adjoining parish hall. Pastor Joan Krawchick Johnson has hung a banner with a stained-glass drawing of a "Tree of Life" on the makeshift wall that was placed between the two portions of the building. The tree represents rebirth, Johnson said, something the congregation has been dealing with in a more physical than metaphorical way since October.
George said the congregation should be back in the church by next May, with little steps of progress being made along the way.
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VALLEY GAZETTE, December 27, 2007
Robin Walluck, Editor
Windows returning to Seymour church
When a fire erupted in the basement of the Seymour United Methodist Church in October 2006 and spread to the rest of the building, firefighters had to break windows to get inside, damaging the stained glass windows that lined the church sanctuary.
Since the fire, Michael Skrtic and the staff of The Glass Source in Shelton have been working to restore the windows.
Some windows survived the fire, but not all of them survived the reconstruction that followed.
It will take about half a year to restore the 40 broken windows that include 140 panels, and it has already taken four months to research colors, shapes and sizes.
In the repair process, tiny pieces of glass are sorted in boxes in the workrooms at the shop on Howe Avenue. A supplier is expected to deliver 100 sheets of glass the week after Christmas, "It's a great Christmas present for me," Skrtic said.
There are eight people, including Skrtic, working on the windows, and the entire studio is concentrating solely on the church project.
Skrtic took photos of all the church windows after the fire, brought the damaged ones to the studio and made etchings of them. It took about four months to catalogue the damage, including identifying stray, broken, and dirty pieces, and re-creating the windows that were ruined.
The initial costs for the repair work on the windows have risen, said Church Pastor Joan Krawchick Johnson. More fund raising and donations will be needed to raise an additional $20,000 to $25,000. Costs escalated because windows that weren't damaged had to be removed as the church was rebuilt, she said.
A thriving business, The Glass Source has been in business for 40 years, and the studio also creates memorial pieces, etchings and kitchen cabinets and does glass fusing.
"We do everything except for glass-blowing here," Skrtic said.
Recently, the studio worked on a window at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Shelton. The window was dedicated to Susan Bartomelli, who died about three years ago. Her son, Nick, funded the project, and parishioners all worked on the window that was recently installed at the church.
The Glass Source will resume conducting open studio hours in the summer, after the Methodist Church project is completed. The target date for the 115-year-old church to reopen is the end of May, Johnson said, and a tentative June 29 date has been set for a celebration.
"It's really wonderful to look at who we are," Johnson said. "I'm just proud of the church."
Some windows survived the fire, but not all of them survived the reconstruction that followed.
It will take about half a year to restore the 40 broken windows that include 140 panels, and it has already taken four months to research colors, shapes and sizes.
In the repair process, tiny pieces of glass are sorted in boxes in the workrooms at the shop on Howe Avenue. A supplier is expected to deliver 100 sheets of glass the week after Christmas, "It's a great Christmas present for me," Skrtic said.
There are eight people, including Skrtic, working on the windows, and the entire studio is concentrating solely on the church project.
Skrtic took photos of all the church windows after the fire, brought the damaged ones to the studio and made etchings of them. It took about four months to catalogue the damage, including identifying stray, broken, and dirty pieces, and re-creating the windows that were ruined.
The initial costs for the repair work on the windows have risen, said Church Pastor Joan Krawchick Johnson. More fund raising and donations will be needed to raise an additional $20,000 to $25,000. Costs escalated because windows that weren't damaged had to be removed as the church was rebuilt, she said.
A thriving business, The Glass Source has been in business for 40 years, and the studio also creates memorial pieces, etchings and kitchen cabinets and does glass fusing.
"We do everything except for glass-blowing here," Skrtic said.
Recently, the studio worked on a window at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Shelton. The window was dedicated to Susan Bartomelli, who died about three years ago. Her son, Nick, funded the project, and parishioners all worked on the window that was recently installed at the church.
The Glass Source will resume conducting open studio hours in the summer, after the Methodist Church project is completed. The target date for the 115-year-old church to reopen is the end of May, Johnson said, and a tentative June 29 date has been set for a celebration.
"It's really wonderful to look at who we are," Johnson said. "I'm just proud of the church."
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HUNTINGTON HERALD, December 20, 2007
Robin Walluck, Assistant Editor
Church members had busy year
Parishioners at St. Paul's Episcopal Church have been busy this year. The church got a new roof, the counseling center became independent of the church, and a stained glass window was created in a member's honor.
"Each community has its own set of wonderful, unique gifts," and Shelton has its fair share of them," said the Rev. Janet Waggoner who marked her one year anniversary as church rector on Dec. 2.
"We talk in the church about giving of ourselves...It's so wonderful when you can see that actually happening," she said of the new stained glass window, given in honor of Susan Bartomeli.
"As a fairly young woman she got cancer and passed away two years ago," Waggoner said.
Susan's family - the Rogowskis - and she were long-time members of St. Paul's, as was her husband, Nick Bartomeli. Susan's family saw that one window at the church was dedicated to a person and thought such a gift would be appropriate for her.
"They wanted to do this second window, dedicated to Susan," Waggoner said, "in honor of Susan and the blessing that she was in the lives of this family."
Creation of the window was truly a family affair. Ed Rogowski, Susan's brother; her husband, nieces, nephews, other family members and friends made it at the Shelton-based Glass Source.
The Glass Source is owned by Michael Skrtic, a St. Paul's parishioner. It's the oldest continually operating stained glass business in Connecticut, Waggoner said, and been open for about 40 years.
Skrtic said the window took about a year to complete.
"They worked on it for about five, six months," Skrtic said. "They would come in almost every Tuesday night."
He said the window contains four layers of glass. "It's a way of creating colors and shadowing you can't get with a single layer of glass," Skrtic said. He said he tries to use more than one layer to make sure the window comes to life.
Skrtic began his career as a stained-glass artist at age 15 when he was an intern at the Glass Source. He went to art school, and was taught by other people in the stained-glass profession how to do the art. "It's really a learned art, you can't just learn it from a book," he said.
Waggoner said she too was able to take part in the window's creation. "All of this started before I came, so it's a testament of the rich life of this parish community that their life through all kinds of transition over the years holds together through their gifts," said Waggoner. "It's truly a beacon of light."
A previous stained glass window was dedicated in May 2006 in memory of Bruno Shuster and in honor of Noelle D'Agostino.
"We talk in the church about giving of ourselves...It's so wonderful when you can see that actually happening," she said of the new stained glass window, given in honor of Susan Bartomeli.
"As a fairly young woman she got cancer and passed away two years ago," Waggoner said.
Susan's family - the Rogowskis - and she were long-time members of St. Paul's, as was her husband, Nick Bartomeli. Susan's family saw that one window at the church was dedicated to a person and thought such a gift would be appropriate for her.
"They wanted to do this second window, dedicated to Susan," Waggoner said, "in honor of Susan and the blessing that she was in the lives of this family."
Creation of the window was truly a family affair. Ed Rogowski, Susan's brother; her husband, nieces, nephews, other family members and friends made it at the Shelton-based Glass Source.
The Glass Source is owned by Michael Skrtic, a St. Paul's parishioner. It's the oldest continually operating stained glass business in Connecticut, Waggoner said, and been open for about 40 years.
Skrtic said the window took about a year to complete.
"They worked on it for about five, six months," Skrtic said. "They would come in almost every Tuesday night."
He said the window contains four layers of glass. "It's a way of creating colors and shadowing you can't get with a single layer of glass," Skrtic said. He said he tries to use more than one layer to make sure the window comes to life.
Skrtic began his career as a stained-glass artist at age 15 when he was an intern at the Glass Source. He went to art school, and was taught by other people in the stained-glass profession how to do the art. "It's really a learned art, you can't just learn it from a book," he said.
Waggoner said she too was able to take part in the window's creation. "All of this started before I came, so it's a testament of the rich life of this parish community that their life through all kinds of transition over the years holds together through their gifts," said Waggoner. "It's truly a beacon of light."
A previous stained glass window was dedicated in May 2006 in memory of Bruno Shuster and in honor of Noelle D'Agostino.
A big year for the church
A new roof was put on the church this year, and even more important for the church, the ministry that was formed 25 years ago officially became independent of it, Waggoner said.
St. Paul's Christian Counseling was started "because there was such a need in Shelton and the Naugatuck Valley communities" for a place like that, she said.
From the "fledgling beginnings," of meeting in Sunday school rooms, the center now has a budget and a staff of 13, Waggoner said.
"It's clearly not a little program of the parish anymore," she said.
Founded in 1722, St. Paul's erected its first church building in 1740. It burned to the ground in 1810 and was rebuilt with one side of the parish on one side of Church Street and the church building on the other.
However, as the downtown area got busier, it was no longer safe to have the parish on one side of the street and the church on the other, Waggoner said. A new sanctuary, which parishioners refer to as a chapel, was built in 1993.
"The old church building has never had running water or rest rooms," so it's like being in the 19th Century, Waggoner said.
For the coming year, she said she hopes the church will continue to do great things. "I very much look forward to great adventures in God with them," Waggoner said.
For more information about Michael Skrtic's business, go online to theglasssource.com. For more information about St. Paul's Episcopal Church, go online to stpaulsct.org.
A new roof was put on the church this year, and even more important for the church, the ministry that was formed 25 years ago officially became independent of it, Waggoner said.
St. Paul's Christian Counseling was started "because there was such a need in Shelton and the Naugatuck Valley communities" for a place like that, she said.
From the "fledgling beginnings," of meeting in Sunday school rooms, the center now has a budget and a staff of 13, Waggoner said.
"It's clearly not a little program of the parish anymore," she said.
Founded in 1722, St. Paul's erected its first church building in 1740. It burned to the ground in 1810 and was rebuilt with one side of the parish on one side of Church Street and the church building on the other.
However, as the downtown area got busier, it was no longer safe to have the parish on one side of the street and the church on the other, Waggoner said. A new sanctuary, which parishioners refer to as a chapel, was built in 1993.
"The old church building has never had running water or rest rooms," so it's like being in the 19th Century, Waggoner said.
For the coming year, she said she hopes the church will continue to do great things. "I very much look forward to great adventures in God with them," Waggoner said.
For more information about Michael Skrtic's business, go online to theglasssource.com. For more information about St. Paul's Episcopal Church, go online to stpaulsct.org.
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