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In an age where houses of the holy are being turned into upscale housing for hip, young couples and other urban sophisticates, the notion of a church being only a place for worship is rapidly changing.

However, bucking this trend, many churches and other houses of worship are being saved and restored, and many more are being built, on a constant basis. Michael J. Crosbie, editor in chief of "Faith & Form" (www.faithandform.com) and author of three books on ecclesiastical art and architecture, says that, contrary to what many might think, "There's a lot of church building going on, especially in the Southwest of the United States."

One thing hasn't changed, and that's the need to adorn these buildings, new and old, for the purpose of worship. After all, what is a church without a handsome cross, a synagogue without an elegantly adorned Ark, or a mosque without a magnificent mosaic-covered mihrab?

"Painting, sculpture, music and architecture -- those have all been part of the tradition of worship for thousands of years," Crosbie says. "All of those elements have been there since the Egyptians in terms of the temples they created. And I think that's still an important part of being a human being, having the worship experience enhanced by art and architecture."

The high point of ecclesiastical art and architecture is embodied in the Gothic cathedrals of Europe built between the mid-12th and 15th centuries -- a style that was emulated during the 19th-century "Gothic Revival" period in England and the U.S. It is still emulated today in religious architecture, especially in terms of adornment, such as the inclusion of stained glass, religious statuary and other forms of iconography. Although many of those items can be ordered from catalogs, there is still a desire for artists and artisans to create custom works.

For those who create that artwork, there could be no higher calling.

"The opportunity for creating a work of art that's very special to a place -- a church, a synagogue or a temple -- is the opportunity to make something that's unlike anything else," Crosbie says.

Of all Christian religions, there is perhaps no greater reliance on ornament in the present day than that of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Whether it be Russian, Greek, Antioch or otherwise, stepping inside an Orthodox church is a bit like stepping into another world, where nearly every surface is covered in ornament, from mosaics on the floors to gold leaf on the walls.

Central to the decorative aspect of religious practice of the Orthodox religion is the icon. Often called "Windows into Heaven," icons are representations of holy persons and events. In the Orthodox Church, icons are considered vessels for transporting prayers to the saint portrayed in the icon, in hopes that the saint will intercede with Christ on the believer's behalf.

Brentwood artist Mark Kinan has specialized in making icons for the past 10 years after learning to paint them at the Antiochian Village in Ligonier. A member of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Oakland, where he sings in the choir and serves as the Parish Council secretary, Kinan says tradition is the entire basis of iconography.

"There is no great amount of artistic latitude allowed in iconography, and the artist must be submissive to the iconographic tradition," Kinan says. "In an age of modern art, the rules of iconography separate the art form from all others, especially when most art forms have no rules at all. In this way, the iconographer, just like the clergy, submits himself to Christ."

Although Kinan has painted icons for Orthodox churches throughout the region, such as the veneration icons at St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church in Souderton, as well as the one of St. Nektarios he is working on for his own church, some have been commissioned from churches abroad, such as one of the Archangel Michael that was commissioned by a church in Greece, a print of which is housed in a church in the Republic of Moldova.

Even though his icons are largely commissioned by those of the Orthodox faith, he feels icons have a universal appeal.

"There are some who feel that icons are only for those who belong to a religion that uses icons as a tool for the glorification and worship of God, i.e. Orthodoxy. But I believe that icons have a mass appeal for all Christians, and, as a ministry, if even one person comes closer to God through my icons, then it's a spiritual victory."

Self-described "Byzantine Iconographer" Michael Kapeluck, of Carnegie, started painting icons nearly 20 years ago after graduating with an art degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985. About six years into it, he started doing it professionally full time.

He now paints icons and creates other religious art in a studio in Carnegie, next door to his home. Not far away is Sts. Peter & Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which houses some of his best-known work, though he has completed many more commissions for churches throughout the region, such as Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Church in Monroeville, Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church in Oakmont, St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church in Latrobe and St. John Orthodox Church in Beaver.

Like Kinan, Kapeluck says tradition is paramount.

"You could take 100 different icons of Christ from five, 10, even 15 different centuries, and you will still be able to identify them all as icons as opposed to other forms of religious art," Kapeluck says. "However, they all would be different; each (would) have its own uniqueness depending on where and who had painted the icon."

He also paints "everything from personal icons for people's houses, which are usually painted on wood panels, to full wall and ceiling murals for churches," he says. "I have even had some Roman Catholics and Protestants order icons."

Last year he received a Pennsylvania Folk Art Grant, and years earlier he was awarded a Certificate of Artistic Achievement from Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. The latter reflects the need for restoration work in churches throughout the area, such as replacing the icons in an iconasta, or wooden icon screen that separates the altar from the nave in an Orthodox church, which Kapeluck completed recently at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church in Uniontown.

Restoration projects and word-of-mouth make for a majority of business these days at Hunt Stained Glass Studios, along West Carson Street on the Ohio River side of the West End Circle. It's been at that location since 1951, when it was relocated from its original Wabash Street site opened by Henry Hunt in 1906. It is now owned by the Parrendo family.

The studio employs seven, including Nick Parrendo, who bought the business in 1987. He had worked there as a stained-glass artist and designer since 1950, hired during the studio's heyday when local church construction was strong and the studio employed 24 people.

Today, the studio operates much the same way as it did then, repairing existing stained-glass windows and custom-making stained-glass windows for churches, synagogues and homes. Hunt Studios' work can be seen in nearly every Pittsburgh Roman Catholic church from St. Mary's on Mt. Washington to St. Paul's Cathedral in Oakland, but countless homes from Carnegie to Monroeville and beyond have custom-made windows made by Hunt Studios, religious themed or otherwise.

With the diocese having sold off several churches in recent years, Parrendo says many more of the commissions for new works that come through the studio these days are for residential purposes. Nevertheless, he eschews the idea that creating stained-glass windows for churches is a dying art.

"It's always been a dying art," Parrendo says. "As long as I've been here, people have said that. It may go through cycles, but when you're selling beauty and the good news, it works because this is what we yearn for."

At 77, Parrendo continues, day after day, designing new windows, making sculpture and painting. In fact, a year ago he even painted the elaborate mural that now fronts the west side of the studio building and can be seen clearly when driving through the West End Circle.

About his art, Parrendo says, "God taps everybody. It doesn't matter what kind of life you have; God calls each of us to do certain things that have to be done. But for me, I've been lucky to be more involved with my faith through my work and fall more in love with the creator."

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