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Artist’s stained glass graces Mt. Lebanon hotel

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
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The stained-glass creations sitting atop easels in the hotel lobby draw a lot of attention.

“People come in all the time asking to buy it,” John Hupp sales manager of SpringHill Suites in Mt. Lebanon, reported.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

The Cathedral of Learning in stained glass

The artist, Ernie Thomas, also receives plenty of purchase inquiries. But he’s not selling.

Since retiring from Consol Energy Inc., the Mt. Lebanon resident has been concentrating on fashioning stained glass into various designs, including a series of scenes around Pittsburgh. His goal is to have them on permanent display at a to-be-determined locale.

In the meantime, the hotel has served as a mini-gallery of his work for about six months.

“We want to keep them in here to have a positive artistic flair in our lobby, and a lot of people love it,” Hupp said. “And it’s local.

A native of Bristol, England, Thomas moved to the Pittsburgh area in 1978 and quickly learned to appreciate what he calls “such a photogenic city.”

Much of his work has been inspired by photographs, such as a scene of the South Side Flats as viewed from across the Monongahela River. He saw the image online and contacted the photographer, who was gracious in sharing where he stood to shoot, along the Boulevard of the Allies.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Scenes from Pittsburgh’s PNC Park and Mexican War Streets neighborhood

“I took a picture there, and I don’t have a big enough camera to get a lot of detail,” Thomas said. “So I printed it out and went up there. So I’m driving around looking for the places, and this guy comes out and wants to know what the hell I’m doing.”

Once Thomas explained himself, the resident was fine with the idea.

A close look at Thomas’ work reveals his penchant for intricate detailing. His depiction of PNC Park, for example, features such flourishes as placing small pieces of glass behind the main scene to produce a shadowing effect, and he used other small pieces to spell out “Pirates.”

“You cut those pieces out and put them in a kiln, and melt them,” he explained.

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Harry Funk / The Almanac

Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Polish Hill

He also likes to employ a technique known as plating, made famous a century ago by designer Louis Comfort Tiffany, to produce depth and texture.

In addition to the PNC Park and South Side Slopes scenes, Thomas’ works on display at SpringHill Suites feature Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Polish Hill, Mexican War Street row houses, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning, based on a photo of the building illuminated for the city’s 250th anniversary in 2008. Most of them are positioned inside old window frames salvaged from a house in Shadyside.

“Somebody I know took them out and asked me if I wanted them,” Thomas said. “They would have been thrown away otherwise.”

The Cathedral of Learning’s frame is one he found at the Construction Junction, the nonprofit building materials reuse store in the East End. He left the frame’s brass handle and hinges intact.

Thomas first learned to make stained-glass art by taking a class offered through the Community College of Allegheny County. His mentor then became Ruth Mahoney, owner of the Glass Place in Cecil Township.

His favorite of his creations, he said, depicts a narrow Downtown alley with a series of fire escapes attached to the tall buildings on either side.

That one’s not for sale, either.

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