THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504150294
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
One by one, the stained glass panels in Temple Sinai light up from the sun, each giving life to a woman from the Old Testament.
The characters wait like actresses for the spotlight - or a certain slant of the sun - to come forward and tell their tale.
When the light shines on Queen Esther, who saved her fellow Jews from death by royal decree, the gold on her garments glistens.
Then the sun moves to Miriam, who slaps a tambourine against her thigh as she dances for joy after the Jews escape Egypt and bondage - an exit celebrated through Passover. The parted sea rolls back to swallow the Egyptian foe and sparkles from the textured blue glass.
The stained glass in Temple Sinai represents 10 women. And when the colored light that emanates from these windows falls onto the creator, Newport News artist Marsha Maurer, she too has a story to tell.
``I found myself relating to these women over and over,'' said Maurer, seated by her windows on Friday.
To Maurer, the images of women acting out Bible scenes offer ``an insight into our lives today. I found they give courage. I find them strengthening.
``And their stories survived. My joy was, I got to be a part of that.''
Given the timeless appeal of the stories, she felt pressured to achieve ``the same kind of richness in composition. I had to interpret these stories in such a way to stand the test of time.''
With personal homages, she made the ancient tales current. The face of her first husband, who was murdered in 1981, peers out from one of the figures. Another window is inscribed in memory of her brother, Dr. Jay Lionel Kurs, who died in his 30s of a heart attack.
The faces of Naomi and her son Gershon were patterned after Jews photographed in the concentration camps.
``This was my way of preserving them. To take a piece of history and bring it forward.''
Maurer, 44, has painted, drawn and sculpted her entire adult life. But she never attempted stained glass. Still, her temple commissioned her several years ago to tackle the massive project.
Funds for the windows were willed to the temple by Rena Nachman Kates, a founding member who died in 1992.
On Friday, Maurer toted her latest project: hand-knitted socks for her daughter made from wool she spun on her spinning wheel. Maurer followed the pattern used on the windows - go all out, and to the roots of the medium.
Most stained-glass artists are content to cut ready-made glass and piece it together with leading. Maurer, however, undertook an intensive study of medieval stained-glass artistry and researched the methods of a more recent master, Louis Comfort Tiffany.
For her windows, Maurer used many different kinds and shades of handmade and handblown art glass. She painted on details such as faces, hands and distant villages.
Maurer made her own paint from crushed pigment, ground glass and clove, mint and lavender oils. Then she applied the pigment with costly badger-hair paintbrushes.
Often, effects were achieved through two layers of glass, each layer painted on both sides. This was Tiffany's technique, she said. ``The point is to give the appearance of as many dimensions as possible, so you get a rounded look,'' she said.
The paint was permanently fused to the glass by repeated firings in a kiln. ``I felt I was compromised by using an electric kiln. I kind of felt I should have used a wood-firing kiln,'' like those used in medieval times.
Maurer is a purist like that. A registered nurse by training, she discovered she could make more money in art with her unusual projects, such as re-creating angels and other figures from a Renaissance creche she saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York - her hometown.
She never once considered using abstract designs for her windows. ``To me, when a human being walks up to a picture, they should have a spontaneous reaction of recognition.''
An instant take on the timeless.
``How long will these windows last? Centuries. They're forever. They really are a legacy.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Marsha Maurer
Color photo by Bill Tiernan, Staff
Miriam (photo of window)
by CNB