Mills River Methodist Church

From the beginning of the design of the building, one important requirement was for the sanctuary to be filled with natural light. What the new stained glass window should do is not cut out too much light.  The large window created a glare problem that was resolved by the installation of a matt film.  The center cross was not covered so it remained a glare issue.

The mortar used in the 1860”s church building was a buff color along with the red orange brick color inspired the architect with its distinctive color harmony.  This idea was picked up by the architect, Douglas Harris when choosing for the interiors and the new brick was carefully chosen to match the original.

The final color scheme of the window can also relate back to this color harmony in some way.  When the window design was discussed the river form was found acceptable, because of the namesake of the church, and also the theological meaning of baptism with water, the flowing form also played off of the architect’s window frame geometry to create design interest.

The background was the first large scale use of fused glass in an architectural setting by Pearl River Glass Studio, fourteen years ago. The innovation in this project was using leadwork to effectively assemble the fused glass “tiles.”  The center cross is done in traditional leaded stained glass and it’s innovation was the contemporary design that interprets the theme of the old rugged cross.  German hand blown antique red streaky was used to symbolize the wounds that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross for our sins.