Polson woman creates stained glass memorial
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POLSON — The original fresco of “The Last Supper” was painted by Leonard DaVinci on a wall in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan, Italy. Now Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church has its version, an 8-by-3-foot stained glass piece.
Designed and crafted by Verna Ivory and daughter Lisa Diaz, Arlee, the piece was commissioned as a memorial to the late Otto and Virginia Wegner, by their three children, Marilyn Pittsley, Brenda Skrede and Garry Wegner.
Pittsley said she and her sister had been discussing what to do with the memorial money and decided they wanted something in stained glass. Ivory came to mind since she’d created beautiful windows for the church.
They ran the idea for a “Last Supper” piece by Ivory, who considered the project and said, “Yes, I can do that.”
And she did.
“We’re very pleased, “ Pittsley said.
Ivory, who’s been a stained glass artist for 31 years, said the project took her two months to complete. She worked on the piece almost every day in her basement studio. Instead of cathedral, or translucent, glass, Ivory used opaque glass, which displays better on a wall.
“It’s probably the most enjoyable piece ever,” Ivory said, adding that she liked working on every part of the project. Ivory used the DaVinci painting as her guide and tried to stay as true to his colors as possible. Diaz collaborated on the pattern and then made the faces, hands and feet, which are “just amazing” for stained glass work, Ivory added.
“I like hands,” Diaz explained. “They are probably the most expressive.”
DaVinci was a master of hands, and he did studies of hands and arms, she added.
The finished piece weighed at least 75 pounds, and Jerry Van Vleet made the frame from Brazilian cherry and oak. It took several people to carry the big chunk of art out of Ivory’s studio.
