Opera House gets new window
Local stained glass artisan Richard Macdonald’s new window for the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor. SUZI THAYER/Boothbay Register
Richard Macdonald presents his stained glass window for the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor. SUZI THAYER/Boothbay Register
The work began in early February to repaint, and partially restore the north side of the historic building. SUZI THAYER/Boothbay Register
The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor was built in 1894. Courtesy of Opera House at Boothbay Harbor
Local stained glass artisan Richard Macdonald’s new window for the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor. SUZI THAYER/Boothbay Register
Richard Macdonald presents his stained glass window for the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor. SUZI THAYER/Boothbay Register
The work began in early February to repaint, and partially restore the north side of the historic building. SUZI THAYER/Boothbay Register
The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor was built in 1894. Courtesy of Opera House at Boothbay Harbor
The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor has been getting a facelift over the past few months.
The work began in early February to replace the siding and paint the north side of the historic building.
Last year the board voted to tackle the issue of the peeling paint. Opera House Executive Director Cathy Sherrill said they were afraid it was a moisture problem, and contracted with Frohmiller Construction to strip paint from the shingles, clapboards and trim off the north side to check for damage. There are now some new mahogany trim, sills and shingles, and Eben Piercy was enlisted to do the painting.
“It's all part of the north side refurbishment,” Sherrill said. “The idea was to have it look essentially as it did before we started.”
The stained glass window over the door on the north side had been in place since the building was built in 1894. But though the window was original to the building, it was so damaged that it needed to be replaced.
Local stained glass artisan Richard Macdonald said wheels started turning while he was talking to Susan Brackett, chairman of Friends of the Opera House Committee, one day last winter. “I noticed that that window was going to be removed, and I said, 'You know, for the amount of money that'll be spent to restore that window, which really had no value, I'd give you a break and make something that represents the Opera House for a similar amount of what it would cost to restore it.'”
Brackett said she was hesitant at first. “I really like old stuff, and I have a hard time getting rid of it.” She said she spoke to Sherrill, who was all for Macdonald making a new window. So she sent an email out to the board of directors, and the deal was sealed. The old window, which is of course historic, is being stored and may be showing up somewhere in the bar area.
Richard Macdonald has shown his stained glass art in over 300 galleries all over the world, including a gallery in Saudi Arabia and department stores in Japan. He said he's been a “production craftsman” all his life. Over this past winter he worked on commissions for an architect in Boston making windows and lights for a brick brownstone hotel lobby in the Back Bay area in South Boston. The area was the stained glass center of Boston back in the ‘20s and ‘30s.
Now in his (almost) 50th year of making stained glass art, Macdonald said he's in a very creative period. “I'm making new things all the time. I don't ever stop coming up with ideas. I just don't have the outlets for them. Most of the people I've sold to for 25 years have retired.”
Macdonald said that once the board decided to spring for the new window, he wasn't sure how he'd go about representing the Opera House. “Maybe a beautiful sloop or something else that would stand out and be characteristic of the region.”
But he said that Brackett said people had suggested that it somehow represent the arts community, the area, and the music that have always been a part of the Opera House.
“We talked about what the Opera House has been over the years and what it is now,” Macdonald said. “I had done a musical window for a composer in Pennsylvania many years ago so I took that as a basic idea, and ran a bar of music through the center to tie everything together and ran different themes around it.”
He said that the music bar is actually a small stretch of a saxophone or trombone riff in one of his daughter's compositions. “She has a 12-piece Cuban orchestra and composes Latin music.”
Macdonald has hundreds of thousands of pieces in places all over the world, but not a lot is visible to the outside world. He's excited about having a piece that will be visible both from the outside and inside of the Opera House. “Most of what I make goes in someone's home and no one sees it, but the owner and his family and friends.”
“Dick Macdonald's stained glass window is the truly bright spot of the refurbishment,” Sherrill said. “The unique colors and waves in the glass are outstanding.”
At this point only the north side is being refurbished. Sherrill said the board will have to decide whether to just repaint the rest, or replace much of the wood. Either way it will require fundraising.
“But right now the point is to celebrate the north side, and Dick Macdonald.”
“It's going to glow,” Macdonald said, “because it's in that alcove where we only get the morning sun; the light is a challenge. You design for different lighting situations. I looked at that and designed the window so that I think it's going to be pretty nice throughout the lighting cycle of the day.”
