This week the preservation team put together a new encasement for the Koinonia room. This one features a teardrop window that was removed from the east rose window. In it you can find examples of almost every kind of damage inflicted on the panes: cracking, broken pieces, soft/bent leading, chips, losses, a poorly constructed patch, and several BB gun holes to top it off.
Now on view in the Koinonia Room
In honor of the windows currently under restoration, here is a bit more information about the creator of our stained glass windows, Joseph Evan Mackay. Many thanks to Bob Kalayjian who spent countless hours putting together such a wonderful trove of information!
Sketches for east rose window angels, Joseph Evan Mackay, 1913.
Joseph Evan Mackay was a Scottish emigrant born in the 1864 who moved to New York City in 1884. He worked with John LaFarge for three years until he began working at Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. His time at Tiffany was tumultuous. He later sued the company in 1897 for a $17,000 commission he had earned.[1] It is unknown whether or not he was successful in his suit.
Magnolia and Irises, 1908, Tiffany Glass, Co. Now at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
By the early 1900’s he had moved to San Francisco where he began to distinguish himself by diverging from traditional European iconography and including Western naturalistic imagery. He left the bay area after a few years and moved down to Los Angeles. In 1905 the Los Angeles Times reported a strike at his warehouse over his hiring of a Japanese glassmaker he knew from his time at Tiffany in New York.[2]
Bay as seen from Tiburon (1904) by Joseph Evan Mackay. Now in the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota.
His liberal politics must have endeared him to the relatively young First Congregational Church of Long Beach. He was hired in 1913 to design all of the stained glass and interior spaces. He continued creating art glass in California until his death in 1938. He is buried in Beverly Hills.
[1] Paint, oil and drug review Vol. 24 No. 1. July 7, 1897 Chicago: D. Van Ness Pub. Co.
[2] “Wouldn’t work with any Jap.” The Los Angeles Times. August, 13, 1905. [Los Angeles, Calif.]: Times-Mirror Co.
