Glass

Gabriele Wilpers designed the glass sculpture on the West Wall of the Church of the Transfiguration, connecting the oculus window and lintel (over the main doors) in a seamless design portraying Christ’s Transfiguration. In Wilper’s studio at Essen and at the Derix Glasstudios in Taunusstein, Germany, she and glass fabricators collaborated on the modern abstract sculpture. The sculpture features sixty-four individually cast glass panels covered with gold-leaf paint, which was partially removed with an acid wash. The varying intensity of the gold and the pattern of ridges and valleys evoke elements of the reflected light from sunsets over the Cape Cod sand flats and combine to gather, reflect, and refract light, becoming a glistening and shimmering wall of Transfiguration splendor.

Fr. Kim En Joong, a world-renowned Korean-born Dominican artist living in Paris, was commissioned to design the chapel doors. Fr. Kim’s art graces churches, monasteries, abbeys, and other buildings in France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, and the United States. The glass doors of Emmanuel Chapel are only the second art installation of Fr. Kim’s work in the United States.

Fr. Kim’s two vocations as religious priest and artist are seamlessly combined in his person, and clearly expressed in his work. He fulfills his mission as a preacher by “speaking” in the artistic languages of painting, stained glass, ceramics, and liturgical vestments. His profound experience of the Christian faith gives a spiritual dimension to all his works, making his work the perfect “final touch” for the overall art program of the Church of the Transfiguration.

Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Helen McLean designed and fabricated the oculus window for the west wall, working with Architectural Glass Art in Louisville, KY. McLean also painted the processional path, apse mosaic, font floor, and ambo platform mosaics.