Flieden German Church former Synagogue

In 2014, I was approached by Marie Ariel of Cambridge, Ma. to talk about stained glass windows for a church former synagogue in Flieden, Germany near Frankfurt, where she had visited to see where her father had been a child. He was bar mitzvahed in the synagogue in 1898. She met Pastor Holger Biehn, who was so moved to meet someone whose ancestor was a Jewish person who attended the former synagogue. He later reached out to her to ask if she could find an artist who could make stained glass windows to remember the Jewish history of the sanctuary. Marie found me through a friend on Martha’s Vineyard. My website was sent over to the committee and I was chosen as the person they wanted to use. It was a four year process to design, build, and install the six windows, all the while doing fundraising on both continents. The installation and dedication took place in September of 2019. Here are videos and images of the first visit to the church, the construction (four year process), and the dedication.

Flieden German Church former Synagogue

Jan Peters showing me an enormous kiln.

Historic black and white photo of Synagogue in Flieden, circa 1925, with traditional architecture, adjacent buildings, and unpaved road.

Church (left image) 2015, (above image) Synagogue 1925.

Barney Zeitz and Marie Ariel Richard Olson . Dedication Day September 22, 2019

First meeting, Thomas Fendert art committee chair, Barney Zeitz, artist, and Holger Biehn, pastor June 2015

Barney Zeitz fused and laminated stained glass with metal oxide underpainting

Barney Zeitz fused and laminated stained glass with metal oxide underpainting Flieden German Church Former Synagogue

Windows configuration 2015 first visit

Small church with a cross on the facade and on the steeple, light-colored walls, and two arched windows. The entrance has a bulletin board displaying notices. Clear blue sky in the background.

Two older adults sitting together smiling indoors, one wearing a red sweater and glasses, the other in a textured jacket.

I collaborated with Glasmalerei Peters of Paderborn, Germany to build the back four frames and install all the windows. Wilhelm and Jan Peters were wonderful people to deal with. I spent some time at the studio before the dedication in 2019 and again in April 2024. We look to collaborate in the future. Their studio is capable of work at any size and have 60+ employees that can help artists produce almost anything in various glass methods, both traditional and modern.

Construction of the windows started with a series of samples called German Studies. These were a combination of fused stained glass with metal oxide underpainting with laminated clear glass shapes on back. This created a shimmering effect where light ricochets through the glass body.

I cast all the glass in my studio on Martha’s Vineyard, using Bullseye glass with metal oxide underpainting. The Shalom and Frieden windows were laminated with Hxtal-1 epoxy onto quarter inch plate glass and installed into frames I welded from stainless steel. These frame are very complex, accepting the heavy weight of the glass into imbeded silicone. The four back windows with the prayers were shipped to Glasmalerei Peters to install in zinc frames they fabricated. I shipped the SHALOM and FRIEDEN Windows in a crate.

Workshop Barney Zeitz fused and laminated stained glass with metal oxide underpainting

Metal workshop table with circular metal plates, cut-out letters "USA," and various tools like a welding torch and cutting tool.

Close-up of a partially assembled metal structure with cutouts, screws, and visible welding and tooling marks on a workbench.

Mosaic artwork with blue and green glass pieces featuring the German text "HERR Sein Angesicht über dir und".

The German letters were each cut from a full thickness of special striker glass on a ring saw and placed with all the other colors as chips and powders (frit), then fired, and the blue turned to magenta, the color of the protestant church. before firing above, and after firing right

Colorful stained glass pieces with blue, green, and red patterns.

Large stained glass windows with colorful abstract designs featuring blues and greens. The windows are set in an artist's studio with various art supplies and tools. A person stands near a table with materials, and natural light filters through the glass, illuminating the space.

Colorful mosaic art piece with blue, green, and brown fragments on a flat surface, showcasing abstract patterns and textures.

Metal sculpture hanging in a workshop with wooden beams and cluttered shelves in the background.

Close-up of a metal frame with welded seams, displaying intricate cutouts and detailing, on a dirty, stained surface.

metal sheet bending tool on workshop table

Colorful stained glass window with abstract patterns and red German text, partially readable as "HERR Sein Angesicht über dir und gnädig."

Colorful glass art piece with intricate patterns and vibrant blue and green hues on a workshop table.

Large wooden crate with "Fragile" and "Made in the USA" labels, secured with black straps, outdoors on grass with trees in the background.

Crate in yard heading to Germany

Dedication September 22, 2019

Two people smiling near a large bouquet of flowers with red and white blooms in a well-lit room.

Video by Elliott Vecchia: Dedication Day

Collaboration is important to me in all public projects, but in this one, there were several people who helped make the concept, design, and implementation successful. At first, I suggested using prayers running through the landscape, six prayers in six windows. I envisioned stars of David and crosses embedded in the landscape. In the design phase, I talked with Arthur Obemeyer who suggested using Aaron’s Priestly Prayer as the defining prayer that both Jews and Christians use in closing a service. Then, I talked with Rabbi Caryn Broitman who did not like the crosses and stars of David mixed as I tried in the first drawings. That is when Marie Ariel suggested making the two religions and languages separate but equal. She said put the German on the left and the Hebrew on the right. It worked perfectly. When entering the church, one sees the Hebrew on right reading from right to left towards the alter of the church and finishes with the word SHALOM. The German on left reads from left to right ending in the word FRIEDEN. It was a process that was very satisfying.

Aaron’s Priestly Prayer:

MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU;

MAY THE LORD MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU AND BE GRACIOUS TO YOU;

MAY THE LORD LIFT UP HIS COUNTENANCE UPON YOU AND GIVE YOU PEACE

Arched stained glass window with colorful abstract patterns, including blue, green, and orange hues, and inscribed text.

Group of people gathered at an outdoor event under an orange tent, with tables and drinks.