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Stained glass window based on 14-year-old sketch adds special meaning to 蜜桔直播 president鈥檚 home

Published April 14, 2022

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Tommy Barham holds the framed sketch of a design he created in 2008 for a stained glass window for Bon Aire, home of the University of Louisiana Monroe president. Here, Barham reads the letter he sent to Betty Scott Cummins, stating that he had found the sketch. Cummins commissioned Baton Rouge artist Sam Corso to create the stained glass window 鈥溍劢壑辈 Cypress,鈥 recently installed at Bon Aire 鈥 14 years after Barham made the sketch.

Paul Ware/蜜桔直播 Photo Services


About 14 years ago, in 2008, the finishing touches were underway at the University of Louisiana Monroe鈥檚 new home of the president, Bon Aire. The 蜜桔直播 Foundation funded the house, and at that time, Tommy Barham served as a Foundation board trustee, and Betty Scott Cummins was the president.

One element concerned Barham and Cummins 鈥 a large window overlooking Bayou DeSiard was above the bathtub in the president鈥檚 private living quarters. Barham said for privacy鈥檚 sake it should not be clear glass.

鈥淚t faced out on the bayou, and it didn鈥檛 need to be open glass, obviously,鈥 Barham said. 鈥淚 just made the comment that a stained glass window would be a possibility. Betty and I talked about it. Something with a local theme would be good. You know, there are a lot of cypress trees along the bayou.鈥

On a piece of art paper, Barham painted a design of what the stained glass could look like. He showed it to Cummins, but the issue with the window was resolved with opaque glass, and Barham forgot about it. However, Cummins remembered, and later that year, she asked Barham if he still had the sketch and, if so, could she have it.

鈥淚 said I鈥檒l see if I can find it,鈥 Barham told her.

He located the sketch and sent it to Cummins with a short letter. She kept the letter, written on Barham鈥檚 stationary, and the sketch.听

Time passes

Fast-forward to early April 2022. Barham was intrigued when Susan Chappell, 蜜桔直播 Foundation Executive Director, invited 蜜桔直播 Foundation Board members to Bon Aire for a surprise, and they were going into the president鈥檚 private residence.听

鈥淚 could not imagine why we were going into the president鈥檚 private quarters,鈥 Barham said.

Then, Barham was shown the stained glass window replacing the original window. Barham said he was impressed with the beautiful craftsmanship and design, but he didn鈥檛 recognize it was based on his sketch.

Barham said he 鈥渃an vaguely recall doing the sketch. I did not remember doing it when we went out there to look at it.鈥

Barham put the pieces together when shown his framed sketch and the letter he had written Cummins in 2008.

鈥淥nce I saw the sketch and saw my letter 鈥 it was kind of a weird thing. The sketch is framed, and on the backside of the sketch, they framed my letter to Betty. I read it 鈥 it鈥檚 on my letterhead; obviously, I wrote the letter, I remember that. I said I found it and sent it to her,鈥 he said.

鈥淚t was a thought process, a sketch of a possibility of filling that window opening that would not be see-through from the outside and at the same time be an attractive thing to decorate the area,鈥 Barham said.

鈥淪am Corso, the artist, just did a fabulous job of creating this stained glass window. I thought it was very nice. It was an outstanding execution, a wonderful stained glass image. What I did not connect when I first saw it was it was from the sketch I had done. I certainly didn鈥檛 remember that. Then, after I saw the sketch and recalled having done it, it kind of made sense,鈥 Barham said.

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The stained glass window, 鈥溍劢壑辈 Cypress,鈥 was recently installed at Bon Aire, the University of Louisiana president鈥檚 home. The artwork is based on a sketch by Tommy Barham and was commissioned by Betty Scott Cummins. It was created by Baton Rouge artist Sam Corso, originally from Monroe.

Paul Ware/蜜桔直播 Photo Services

鈥溍劢壑辈 Cypress鈥

Wishing to bring Barham鈥檚 drawing to reality, Cummins commissioned the award-winning glass and multi-media artist听Samuel Joseph Corso,originally from Monroe, to create the window.听

Corso named the creation 鈥溍劢壑辈 Cypress.鈥

Corso owns Dufour-Corso Studios in Baton Rouge. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he has completed more than 300 commissions of artwork for residential and liturgical architecture in a career spanning 47 years.听

鈥淢y intention in creating the stained glass window was to follow Mr. Barham鈥檚 concept of the cypress tree trunks and embellish the design with a wide pallet of color, using beautiful hand-blown transparent and translucent glass and traditional leading techniques,鈥 Corso said.听

Using the conceptual art provided by Barham鈥檚 drawing, Corso created the stained-glass design for the 5-feet-tall by 4-feet-wide window. It is leaded in the traditional manner, using lead came and solder. 鈥溍劢壑辈 Cypress鈥 is in three panels set into a poplar wood frame, made by carpenter craftsman Kendall Cooper of West Monroe.听

The majority of the glass is antique and was hand-blown in the United States or Europe. Most of the domestic antique glass was produced in Milton, W.V., by Blenko Glass Company. Blenko has been family-owned and operated since 1893. Its glass is identifiable by the hammered texture.

The European antique glass was produced in Germany. The glass sheets were laid on straw to cool, resulting in 鈥渟traw marks.鈥 The clarity and transparency are a hallmark of German glass.

Some antique glass in the lower part of the window is 鈥渙pal鈥 or 鈥渙paque,鈥 also known as 鈥渇lashed鈥 glass. It is created by blowing one layer of glass over a second layer. This allows light to penetrate the surface but blocks vision.听

Some Cathedral glass was used in the artwork. This glass comes in a multitude of colors and a variety of textures, making it a unique and original work of art.