She included in her design wide bars allowing the windows to open and incorporated them into the design. I mentioned the floral patterns. Look for the Fleur De Lis flower that symbolizes Mary, the mother of Jesus. Note that the shape of each window is pointing upward toward heaven. She uses a lot of threes and other Christian religious symbols. Most of our windows include three windows. They symbolize the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The design of the arch/dome, above the pulpit, maintains the design elements of the windows. The degree of difficulty is magnified in the making of a three-dimensional form in stained glass. Edna Browning Ruby accomplished this beautifully. She is trying to trick you. She leads your eye to perceive the arch as larger than it is by playing with perspective in the glass panes. The squares nearest to you are larger and get progressively smaller as they move up the arch/dome. She makes it really interesting by using different hues of yellow.
Edna Browning Ruby was born in Lafayette, Indiana in 1887. Her father’s ancestors were French settlers in Vincennes. Soon after the town of Lafayette was laid out, her grandfather made his way to the new settlement. The old homestead he built stood at the corner of 11th and Brown streets.
Ruby’s training was extensive, beginning with a specialization in miniature portraiture, jewelry design, and metalwork. Later she became interested in textile design and gained recognition as one of the three most skillful women designers in the United States. She graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, the Art Students’ League of New York, and Purdue University, and later earned membership in the Royal Academy of England. When she was 24, Ruby served as Director of Design and Applied Art at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis and the art school in Muncie from 1916 to 1918.
Before starting to think about windows for a church, Ruby would go to the location and look to see how light would be coming into the church. She would have done this with our church when planning the windows in about 1913 or 1914. The church was completed in 1915.
She said the designer must understand the problems of the architect and adapt the design to the demands of lighting the building and the style of the architecture.
According to the information at the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Edna Browning Ruby would first do a watercolor drawing to show the color scheme and the finished window. Then she would enlarge it to the exact size of the window space and the parts were numbered. See the photograph of her standing in front of a drawing for another church. Patterns then we're prepared for each piece of glass to be used. Large sheets of glass were placed on easels beside the drawing and the sections that have the proper shading and texture for each of the designs were chosen. Finally, the glass was fitted into the grooved lead and properly finished.
In 1885 a natural gas boom began in central Indiana. Eleven glass factories were located within the region. Few factories survived after the gas was used. Kokomo Glass, where Ruby purchased her glass for our windows, still remains. Glass was recently purchased from Kokomo Glass to restore our windows. We are very proud of each one.