Living: Stained Glass, Back and Blooming

Old skills and new techniques

"To beholde hit wasgretjoye."

—Chaucer, describing his "wel-y-glased" chamber.

The shimmering lights and the shifting imagery of stained-glass have entranced the eye and expanded the imagination since the evolution of the art some 16 centuries ago. Today, as pervasively as sunshine pouring through the great windows of Chartres, the resurgent art and craft of stained glass is irradiating the American scene.

In this decade, the challenge of this once and future form has attracted a vast legion of artists, students and collectors. In the U.S. there are now 5,000 professionals...