A Stained-Glass Window into Community

The broken window in a local church was the inspiration behind an Arts+ summer undergraduate experience

Woman in baseball cap holding up stained glass window.
Lauren Puckett, manager for the Art, Art History and Visual Studies studios at Duke University, is a trained artist in stained glass. She led Duke Arts' Arts+ experience: Illuminated: Education Through the Re-Creation of Historic Stained Glass. (Photo and illustration by Jess Abel/Trinity Communications)

This is a summary of a story by Margo Lakin at Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

A desire to restore a broken stained-glass window in a historic Durham church became the catalyst for a Duke‘s Arts+ summer undergraduate experience.

Led by Art, Art History & Visual Studies studio manager and glass artist Lauren Puckett, the six-week program, Illuminated: Education Through the Re-Creation of Historic Stained Glass, was one of four undergraduate experiences offered by Duke Arts this summer.

Puckett had been inspired by a broken, boarded-up church window she passed by regularly.

“The more I thought about that window, the more I realized it could be an opportunity for students to not only preserve a piece of Durham’s history and give back to the community but also learn a craft that's been passed down for centuries,” Puckett said.

The program brought together four students from Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and Durham Technical Community College to learn traditional stained-glass techniques.

Puckett’s philosophy was simple: learn by doing. Rather than lengthy lectures or demonstrations, students received stained-glass patterns on their first day and were immediately put to work. By cutting glass, fitting lead came, and soldering joints, they learned that mistakes and revisions were essential to the creative process. 

Puckett worked alongside the students throughout the program, creating an environment where everyone shared responsibility for the work.

“The students didn’t want to leave the studio,” she said. “They were here every day, arriving early, staying late, offering feedback and helping one another.”

That spirit of collaboration extended beyond the church window. Students worked together on a hand-cranked kaleidoscope topped with a stained-glass mandala.

For photos and a video of the project, go to Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.