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Stunning displays of Terry Bengel's stained-glass artistry can be found at numerous area restaurants, churches of all denominations, a local university and high school.

The Greensburg craftsman has been working with stained glass since 1969. It is an art form handed down through the generations.

"My grandfather and great-grandfather were glassmakers," said Bengel. "My great-grandfather came from Bavaria, which is also a huge glassmaking area. He moved to western Pennsylvania and began working at the glass factories in Jeannette."

Self-employed since 1976, Bengel became the first American to be accepted as a professional observer with the Research Laboratory of the National Historic Monuments Commission at Chateau Champs sur Marne, France. He was involved in the restoration of windows at the Cathedrals of Troyes, Bourges and the Sainte Chapelle, Paris.

His local work of 105 public commissions includes the new stained-glass window in the Millstein Library on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

"I've been thinking about this project for six years," said Bengel, who graduated from the university in 1980. "The tower of the library is the focus of campus. It seemed a little oppressive, and I started seeing it as a stained-glass project."

Technical problems, including how to properly design the window, kept the project at bay until last year when Bengel figured out how to solve the technical issues. He then presented his concept to Dr. Frank Cassell, president of UPG, who saw it as a major public artwork.

"Cassell had to get approval from the fine arts committee in Pittsburgh," Bengel said. "I got the go-ahead for the project in the spring of 2003."

The 14 feet wide by 32 feet high window began as a scale-size drawing. Once the design was approved, Bengel created a full-size drawing in actual dimensions, known in the industry as a cartoon.

"Doing the cartoon is essential," said Bengel. "I was able to use the gymnasium at the college to do the drawing and the balcony at the gym allowed me to view the cartoon in its entirety."

Next, three full-sized copies of the cartoon are traced. Two of the copies are used as work drawings. The third copy is traced on heavy pattern paper and cut into numbered pieces using three-pronged pattern shears. Use of these specialized shears provides the necessary space for the lead channel.

"Most of my projects are done for churches and designed to be seen from the inside," Bengel said. "There was nothing average about this project. Because it was designed to be seen from the exterior, I needed materials that reflected the light, not transmitted it. I ordered glass from Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass Co. in Connellsville. They are the world's expert in Tiffany reproduction glass. Using opalescent glass for this particular project was important because opalescent is denser than cathedral glass so the color reads from the outside."

The process of making opalescent glass is an art form in itself.

"We have nine-day tanks or melting units to make the different color combinations of opalescent or cathedral glass," said John Triggs, owner of Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass Co. "Raw materials -- primarily sand, soda ash and metallic oxides -- are put together in a batch similar to a recipe and mixed. Soda ash is a flux and helps the sand melt. All the other components are mixed into the recipe depending on the characteristics you want the glass to have, such as a certain color, water resistance, or the expansion and contraction of the glass."

A particular furnace is then charged at the end of the day and the glass recipe is shoveled into the furnace which has been set at 2,600 degree F. After six to eight hours, the furnace is turned down to 2,200 degrees F.

"At 2,600 degrees, the glass is fully melted," said Triggs, who has owned the company since 1976. "Turning the furnace down to 2,200 degrees allows the bubbles in the glass to squeeze out. At 5 a.m. the workers turn the furnace down to 2,100 degrees F., so it's comfortable to ladle the glass. They use extra large ladles and scoop the glass out of the furnace."

The molten glass is thrown on a water-cooled iron table where it is mixed or kneaded like bread dough.

"It's mixed slightly and then placed in a machine that looks like Granny's wringer washer where it's squeezed into a sheet," Triggs added. "A device under the machine grabs the sheet and transports it to the lehr, a long tunnel with different temperature zones."

The 80-foot-long lehr cools the glass sheet in phases that take about 40 minutes. The glass trimmer then puts the sheet on the cutting table and cuts the sheet to 24 inches by 36 inches using a regular glass cutter. Each day, the glass trimmer will cut between 350 and 400 sheets of glass per day. Glass sheets are collected and warehoused until they are shipped to customers all over the world. The company produces 200 different colors and patterns of stained glass.

After Bengel selected the colors for use in the Millstein Library window, he began hand-cutting each individual piece of glass and laid out on one of the work drawings in its numbered position. The second work pattern is framed off with wood and the actual window panel is built in jigsaw fashion, weaving the glass with H-shaped lengths of 100 percent lead called cames.

All the lead joints are soldered on both sides of the panels before a sealing, reinforcing compound is brushed under all the lead phalanges on both sides of the panels. The panels are scoured with sawdust and Dover whiting compound and buffed clean. Reinforcing galvanized steel bars are soldered to the surface joints before the panels are installed into the window frame.

"We had to use an 85-foot high hydraulic lift to install the panels of the window," said Bengel. "There were 18 panels in all, each measuring approximately 7 feet by 4 feet. It took two days to complete the installation."

The result, "Upward to the Light," is one of the largest displays of secular stained-glass artwork in the region. It is based on "The Republic," written by the Greek philosopher Plato.

In the story, Plato describes a population of human captives chained to the wall of a cave. Unable to move their heads, their only visual knowledge of the world is produced by the shadows of objects and a fire, which provides the single source of light. One captive escapes and finds his way above ground. He returns to those still held captive and shares his knowledge of the beauty of nature and leads them upward to the light.

"In Plato's 'Republic,' he presents the allegory of the cave as a metaphor for education," Bengel said. "It seemed perfect to use it in this metaphorical context."

But not every aspect of the window is devoted to the ancient classic. Bengel depicted the natural beauty of Chestnut Ridge and the Loyalhanna Creek within the window.

"It's a very kinetic piece," Bengel said. "There are mirrored sections on the window that makes it look like the water of the creek is flowing. The black areas represent western Pennsylvania coal, while the fire of Plato's 'Republic' also refers to the fire of a coke oven. The broken chains symbolize the early social history of our community."

"'Upward to the Light' draws a wonderful connection between individual enlightenment and the value of an education," said Wendy Mackall, director of media relations and community affairs at UPG. "It's a tremendous asset to this campus and to the region."

The Millstein Library window will be formally dedicated in May.

Last year, Bengel rebuilt the stained-glass windows of St. Barbara's Church in Penn Township with some of the panels from the Greensburg Central Catholic High School chapel, which had been demolished in 2002. The rest of the panels were then used during the high school renovation project in the school's new breezeway and along stairways. Bengel also designed the Last Supper scene in the cafeteria.

He is working on a major restoration project involving stained-glass panels from a Presbyterian church in Derry that was scheduled for demolition early last year. The panels will be used in the construction of the new Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Ligonier.

"When we were planning this new church we knew we wanted to put stained glass in," said Annie Williams, business manager at Holy Trinity Church. "Then we started looking at churches that were going to be torn down. One day one of our parishioners called and told us about the church in Derry."

The Rev. Joseph P. Maddalena, pastor of Holy Trinity, Williams, and the building committee went to look at the windows while they were still part of the Derry church.

"The windows were manufactured in 1915 by the Pittsburgh Art Glass Co., of Pittsburgh," said Williams. "We purchased 10 stained-glass windows from the church. Each window has 10 panels in it."

Bengel photographed the windows before removing them by hand to prevent bowing of the lead.

The original windows were in the Tudor style, while Holy Trinity's window designs are Romanesque. Bengel will clean and retrofit the glass panels for the Ligonier church and create a 12-foot diameter rose window using leftover pieces of the glass panels.

"We have eight large stained-glass windows that will go in the main part of the church plus eight clear story windows," said Williams. "We'll also have a very large window in our reservation chapel that will use the glass from Derry. The rest of the glass will be used in the rose window."

The new church will be formally dedicated on April 3, 2005.

"Using the glass from the Presbyterian church will help give Holy Trinity instant venerability because the panels are nearly 94 years old," said Bengel. "As a conservator of American stained glass, this is great. We are saving original stained glass. It is our stained-glass heritage."

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