AURORA : Susan Hertel's glass mural in the WaMu

Stained Glass in Saint Luke's, SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The glass in this lovely white church on Van Ness deserved its own photoAlbum. The majority of windows are the reknown English firm of Heaton, Butler & Bayne, London, UK. They boast beautiful clerestory windows of angels with outstretched wings and exquisitely detailed painting. The aisle windows boast enamelwork, silverstain, acid etching, and delicate painting sometimes on both sides of the glass, adding a real depth to the glass when viewed up close. There are also some adequate windows by the firm of Wipple Co. of london, but they are not nearly as excellent. Much of the aisle windows are located at eye-level, and are real treats to be studied. The painterly compositions are quite complex with real sensitivity to balance and color range. website: http://www.stlukessf.org/main.htm

The Swedenborgian Church, San Francisco, CA

The Church opened its doors for worship March 17, 1895, and was designed by a distinguished group of architects including the celebrated Bernard Maybeck. Its founding pastor, Rev. Joseph Worcester, was longtime friend of John Muir. Rev. Worcester purchased the land on which the Church and its grounds are located. A Statement of Significance reads: "The Swedenborgian Church ecclesiastical complex is an ensemble of buildings that is exceptionally valuable to our understanding of the development of a style of architecture we now call the First Bay Tradition, the harbinger of the Arts and Crafts Movement in the western United States. Natural materials, domestic scale and appearance, traditional and earthy structural forms, and site-specific designs define the First Bay Tradition. The visionary Swedenborgian minister Joseph Worcester brought together leading architects of the First Bay Tradition, A. Page Brown, A.C. Schweinfurth, and Bernard Maybeck, as well as the contemporary painter William Keith, stained-glass artist Bruce Porter, artist Mary Curtis Richardson and other designers and craftsmen to create an integrated complex of buildings. ... Like the closely-allied Arts and Crafts Movement, the First Bay Tradition developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and stressed a comprehensive design approach: from architecture to interior furnishings, from fixtures to artwork. The church is one of the earliest, most influential and best surviving examples of this important national and regional building tradition." The following is an excerpt of the National Landmarking Committee's commentary supporting its decision to grant Landmark status: The Swedenborgian Church of San Francisco is "…a critically important example of the American contribution to the Arts and Crafts Movement as exemplified in new architectural imagery, integration with the site, garden design, and use of natural materials. The interior shows the employment of the decorative arts to create a special atmosphere, and also the first examples of the 'mission chairs.' ... The Church is important as an example of the Swedenborgian contribution to American religious, social theory and intellectual life."

Susan Hertel's glass mural in the WaMu

So I know its been a while since I posted anything, but I think I may be running out of stained glass to shoot in this Bay Area...

But I did finally have some time to make it into the Washington Mutual Bank building on Lombard/Van Ness street to have a glimpse of the large mural inside. I asked the manager if i could take some photos, and somehow I managed to impress upon her that I wasnt trying to 'case' the joint. haha.

Due to the weather, on overcast day, I thought it would be a great time to shoot it. However, the work has several major design flaws which make a proper viewing difficult. The first is that behind the mural, large dark trees have grown up, and these cast a shadow on the glass. So there are parts that are illuminated, and some that are in shadow. Second is the fact that that there appears to be an outer overhang to the roof, and this casts a dark shadow on the top four feet of the composition. Thirdly, while dark on the inside of the building, there are two enormous chandelier type light fixtures, and many smaller drop cannister type lights. these are hard to see byond, and interfere with any strightforward look. So looking must be done at angles and upward, which is why the photos tend to be a bit sharp in their angles, as you can see.

But I think its a good solid work of glass, perhaps not so innovative, but colorful and the modeling of the figures is interesting and fluid. The whole composition reads like a children's book, with mothers holding babies, and children dancing and playing with animals and musical instruments.

The work was done by the artist/painter/muralist Susan Hertel, who was originally trained as a mural painter, and later designed stained glass. A graduate of Scripps College in 1952, Susan Hertel raised her large family on ranches in both Glendora, California, and Cerrillos, New Mexico. Her subject matter in her paintings depicts the pleasure she took in life on the ranches with the many animals and human activities. A retrospective of her work was held at Scripps College in the Fall, 1998.

Here is some more background info on her. she was a painter, who seems to have made a living with murals, mainly for buildings owned by Home Savings Bank, of which the WaMu bank building is originally one. Another important commission was in Hollywood, CA. She died in 1993, but was a successful mother and painter, and seems to have drawn her subject matter from her own life on a ranch with animals.