Stained glass windows recreated in Fairfield’s new Presbyterian Church

FAIRFIELD — The parishioners of First Presbyterian Church in Fairfield made the difficult decision to move into a new home in 2021, leaving behind the church building they had called home for 145 years.

The congregation renovated the lower level of the office building at 605B South 23rd St., owned by Chris Davis. Parishioner Sally Johnston said the new home has been a perfect fit for the Presbyterians.

“We immediately began to refer to it as ‘right-sizing,’” Johnston said, instead of the term “downsizing.” “We needed a comfortable, meaningful facility that was right for under 100 members, instead of 600 like we had at one time.”

However, something was missing from their new home. The sanctuary is both cozy and modern, but because the lower level is partially underground, it has no windows, and more importantly it does not have the stained glass windows that the congregation so loved about their old building. Johnston said she and other members of the church such as Linda Mitcheltree and Deb and Pat Doyle started discussing ways to somehow replicate the feel of those stained glass windows in the new building.

“The windows in that sanctuary told a story,” Johnston said. “When we moved, we wanted to take the feel of our beloved building with us. A lot of us had a hard time convincing ourselves that it was just a building of bricks, mortar and wood. We’ve made so many connections there through weddings, baptisms, funerals, you name it.”

Moving the stained glass windows into the new building was never an option because it would have been a huge undertaking, and also because the building’s new owners, Tammy Haessler and Adriene Crimson, wanted to keep them (they also renamed the building Golden Magnolia Sanctuary).

The Presbyterian Church parishioners reached out to local photographer and videographer Werner Elmker, because they knew he had taken many photos of the church, and he would be a good resource for attempting to recreate the stained glass windows in the new building.

“We didn’t have a specific idea in mind, we just knew we wanted something decent sized to hang in the new building,” Johnston said. “It wasn’t long before we realized that we wanted pictured of the stained glass lighted from behind, so the stained glass patterns were more visible.”

Elmker said the project turned out to be quite complicated. He started by taking high quality photos of the stained glass windows, and then he got the idea to put them in light boxes, to give the appearance of sunlight shining through from behind. One day, he was talking about this project with Richard Lint, whose day job is reproducing artwork for arcade consoles. Though Lint had never done a project quite like this before, he saw how similar it was to the work he does designing translucent art for arcade machines. He offered to help Elmker create a light box that closely resembled a real stained glass window.

“I took Werner’s photos and created a digital acrylic print,” Lint said. “I had to do it in multiple stages to create different transparency effects.”

Lint’s design included multiple layers, one that illuminated the color in the middle, and another around the outside to give it the appearance of a wooden border that was not as bright. The wood grain layer was designed to match the large wooden cross in the sanctuary, which is also from the old church and was installed by Steve Winslow. The cross has lights behind it, too.

Lint used eight photos from Elmker to produce these acrylic prints at his shop in Fairfield, which were ready to be installed just before Christmas 2022. Johnston said the congregation is thrilled with these light boxes, which makes them feel like they are back in the old church.

“They look so nice,” she said. “When you look at them, it’s like there is sunshine coming in.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com