There are not many professions where you get to touch a piece of history and then become a piece of it yourself.
Art and history are intertwined for Shawn Risko, who has spent his career creating and restoring stained glass. Risko has perfected his craft over the past 20 years, piecing together highly detailed and colorful glassworks of art that can last a lifetime.
His company — Riskula Art Glass — has been involved with numerous projects in Napa County and across the Bay Area. Among these are several private homes in the Silverado Country Club area, NapaMethodist Church, Creekside Community Church and St. Helena’s Catholic church.
One example of his handiwork is on display in downtown Napa — a portfolio of sorts in a single building.
Risko recently concluded a project at Napa’s First Presbyterian Church, located at 1333 Third St., which saw a lot of damage from the 2014 earthquake. The church’s windows were among the many casualties.
The stained glass was the “most obvious damage right after the earthquake,” according to Jill Lambert, a church board member. “The stained glass was obviously broken.”
Now, in what Lambert called “leftover earthquake damage,”some of the windows were “starting to bow out and the lead between the panels was failing. We are lucky to have Shawn available to repair it for us.”
“When we had to make repairs on several of the windows in the sanctuary, Shawn was able to source old glass that matches what we have,” Julie Worthington, another church board member, said.
Risko’s relationship with First Presbyterian has been a long, yet rewarding one.
“There is something about touching glass made by people who are not here anymore,” Risko said from the church’s library, surrounded by five window panels he was in the process of installing. “It really makes you think about the time that goes by.”
The library windows were carefully placed at the end of November but were first pulled from the historic building in the middle of June. From there, they were taken to Riskula Art Glass’s Napa County workshop where the restoration work begins.
Amy Hall Risko — Shawn’s wife and partner on many projects over the years including those at First Presbyterian — explained that making stained glass from scratch is a lot easier than fixing an old piece.“
Restorations are a little bit more tricky,” she said. “Generally, because you are working with an item 100 to 150 years old, the template we take can be buckled or folding.”
The template is essentially a map the Riskos use to ensure each piece of glass removed from the window pane is returned to its rightful place during the restoration. That way the original stained glass pattern of the piece is retained.
Restoring such intricate patterns takes meticulous planning, time and patience because sometimes the condition of the window is not apparent until it is transported to the workshop.
“You definitely don’t know what you are getting into,” Hall Risko said.
Once a template is created, the pair start taking the window apart and work with the old glass — which in First Presbyterian’s case is 150 years old and from Belgium, according to Lambert and Worthington.
Once the glass is removed, it is cleaned and if the colors are faded, sometimes this means repainting it and refiring those pieces in a kiln. When all the glass is ready to go again, it is like a “giant puzzle, putting it back together with lead and soldering,” Hall Risko said.
Some clients choose not to repair the broken or faded glass, Hall Risko said. Instead, they opt to have that history remain intact. For example, “if one piece is broke in half, we put a new lead line” around that piece, she explained.
For others, restoring stained glass is a “very low priority,” according to Risko. Risko said he provides assessments on the condition of glass, sometimes as a paid service or out of sheer curiosity.
“If I see something, I’ll take a look at it.” And sometimes the lead looks like it’s on its way out.
The lead for these stained glass pieces is a key component. Even if an earthquake hadn’t rattled First Presbyterian, over time the lead would eventually deteriorate. This is just part of the cycle of stained glassworks. The 2014 quake simply accelerated this timeline.
But now, with the Riskos help, members of Napa’s First Presbyterian Church can celebrate the completion of “the last big project from the earthquake that needs to be redone,” according to Lambert.
That doesn’t mean the Riskos won’t be busy. Projects flow in and out of the workshop all the time.
A long-term goal for Shawn Risko? To create his own church from scratch, being involved with the stained glass work from the beginning. Building “something that big takes a lot of design time,” he said.
But if there is one thing Risko has learned throughout his career, it’s patience.
