Date: Fri 05-Jan-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

Migliaro-stained-glass-glazier

Full Text:

(feature on stained glass artist Richard Migliaro, 1/5/96)

Traditional Techniques Come Shining Through These Beautiful Windows

(with photos)

By Shannon Hicks

"Glass never loses its brilliance. Glass is one thing that you can bring back

to its original state, its lustre... it's incredible. And when the sun hits

it, it just comes alive.

"I love it! It's unbelievable," says Richard Migliaro, a glazier and stained

glass artist who recently closed the first public exhibit of his own designs

and restorations, at the Woodbury Public Library. Mr Migliaro is the owner of

Woodbury Glass Studio, which specializes in designing aesthetically pleasing

art glass pieces for homes and stores. He enjoys this work, which he has

turned into a career-on-the-side, and he loves sharing his vast knowledge

about glass.

Stained glass can be used for everything from a sidelight or entry door

insert, custom lampshades in nearly every room of the home, home or office

room dividers, sculpture, cupboard or bookcase doors, and of course, in

churches and cathedrals, which is what most people associate stained glass

windows with. It is not surprising to learn, then, that stained glass is the

only art in the service of the Christian church fully developed during the

Christian era.

Early stained glass windows, developed during the Christian era sometime

around the Third and Fourth Centuries, consisted of small pieces of

translucent glass set in plaster to form a design to give the effect, when

placed in light, of sparkling jewels. Later windows incorporated larger pieces

of glass and were leaded together in floral or geometric designs.

The early mosiac-like use of pieces of colored glass in church windows

eventually blossomed into the great windows of Chartres and other cathedrals

of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, which have been designated by

scholars as the "Golden Age of Stained Glass." Designers focused primarily on

glazing, planning their works primarily around windows' leadwork using small

pieces of richly colored glass, augmented by as little painting as was

necessary. This is the time period many great stained glass designers strive

to re-create today.

By the late Gothic and Transitional periods, rich color and simple treatment

were abandoned, glazing became secondary to painting and glass was cut to

larger and more regular patterns. Stained glass windows began to lose their

charm.

Glass is colored by means of powdered metal oxides added to the glass during

its molten stage. It is up to the chemist to decide the correct proportion of

the oxides - cobalt oxide, cobalt and chromium, combined in some proportion

will create blue, for example; selenium with cadmium and copper salts will

create red... but at what proportions? Only the glass chemists know.

"You want secrets? These are secrets through the centuries that companies will

not tell," Richard said. "Every company has trade secrets and nobody knows

what they are, as far as color is concerned."

There are thousands of colors to choose from, and Richard's studio is filled

with colored sheets of glass.

"When I go and purchase glass, it's like being a kid in a candy store

sometimes," says the artist.

"The theme I chose [for the Woodbury show] was `Color in Motion' because

stained glass, depending upon where the sun is, the colors of the glass change

constantly," Richard explained.

Last month was the first time Richard Migliari showed an exhibit of his works.

A member of the Stained Glass Association of America, the Professional Stained

Glass Guild and the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservations, Richard was

thrilled when offered use of the library's gallery.

Richard is very selective when it comes to the glass he uses in each of his

designs. A single sheet of glass may emit a single small piece no more than

two inches wide to be used in one work. He does not discard the remaining

piece of glass, however; parts of sheets can be used for a number of

creations. Richards simply insists on making a piece of glass work for him,

rather than the other way around.

One work included in the Woodbury exhibit, "Wisteria," designed for a private

collection, contained over 250 pieces of glass. It is a perfect example of

selectively using very specific pieces of glass: to create the effect of a

vine winding around a branch, small pieces of brown glass were cut to have the

effect of creeping vines.

"This was fun, I really enjoyed making that [piece]," he said while walking

through the exhibit just prior to its closing. "You take the homeowner's idea

and my knowledge of glasswork, and have a finished product they can enjoy."

Designing, then putting together a stained glass piece, is a time-consuming

process. After choosing the colors and styles of glass to use, Richard must

also consider the lead incorporated into the design. Lead is also part of the

design, something many early church window designers neglected to consider,

which is why churches with very antique windows sometimes have a steel bar

running right through the middle of the window, irregardless of its effect on

a view.

"If you look at [some] church windows, they'll put a bar right across the

window," he said. "They just totally disregard the design. So I make sure when

I'm designing a window to incorporate the bar right into the window, so it's

lost, you don't see it."

Lead thickness isn't always relative to a glass's design, either. A large

piece of glass does not necessary need a thick piece of lead to hold it in

place, although anything over two square feet has to have reinforcement,

because lead will buckle and fold without enough strength behind it.

The first contemporary work Richard designed is called "Donzella," which

incorporates the traditional glass and lead structure with contemporary lead

offshoots and jeweled pieces of hematite affixed to the glass.

For the work, Richard used antique glass imported from France. The glass he

uses in every one of his works is all hand cut, and as demonstrated by

"Donzella," Richard likes to incorporate the traditional techniques of stained

glass designs into his works. Being creative, he can also use more

contemporary techniques in traditional-looking designs.

Stained glass comes in a number of styles - crackle, drapery, antique, glue

chip, water glass, etc - each with its own texture on the surface or within

the glass itself, which gives stained glass windows so many possible styles to

use. The different types of glass each reflect sunlight differently,

presenting designers with different uses for each particular window site.

Not only does Richard create new designs in stained glass, he also repairs or

old works. Richard can bring a piece back to life by refurbishing lead and/or

glass, re-cement the glass, re-sodder any joints that may have broken or need

reinforcement.

One of his favorite things to do with glass - and a number of these pieces

were on view in "Color in Motion" - is to take an old window frame found at a

flea market and work a stained glass design into the frame. It is a

magnificent demonstration of old meets new, with a beautiful result.

Richard, now 38, began to apprentice with his fadher at the age of 18. As a

youngster, he remembers making house calls with his dad, Richard Migliaro, Sr,

who ran his own business, Ricky's Glass. Richard began working as a glazer

with his father in 1972, though he knew he would never be fully content with

that vein of glass work. Once he began incorporating some of his artistic

talent into his work - with an active imagination and already passionate about

art, Richard dreamed of becoming a cartoonist as a child - he knew which

direction he wanted to take his career.

By 1976, Richard was in Costa Mesa, Calif., where he was working with Roger

Rhodebaugh at Nostalgic Glass Works. He credits this time of his life with

"enhancing his knowledge, it really fine-tuned everything."

An ambitious project he hopes to undertake would be to document windows across

the state. He is in fact in the process of repairing a sidelight and an arch

window for the Watertown Town Annex, which he will then document and forward

all information he can uncover to the Connecticut Historical Society. Still in

its earliest stages, Richard would like to document church windows across the

state because many people, he feels, don't know what they have until something

happens to some of these windows.

"They don't know what they have until something happens and they say `Oh geez,

we have to repair this.' Well, after it's broken, do you have photographs? Do

you have anything to look at?

"We don't have this kind of documentation, which is very unfortunate," Richard

says. "By just taking photos of them, documenting them, it would make

[repairs] so much easier, if they ever needed anything," Richard says.

While his love of creating works of art with this historically-significant

glass is apparent, it is not Richard's primary source of income. However,

everything he makes while painting (his primary income source) is put right

back into the glassworkings.

Current projects include designing a skylight for a brownstone in New York

City and, while being contracted for the ongoing restoration of the guest

rooms at the Curtiss House in Woodbury, Richard has also been hired to create

a 24 by 26-inch floral design window for the inn's master suite. His works are

by commission only, to builders, architects and collectors, but he hopes to

someday open a full-time studio in Woodbury.

"It will happen someday," he says.