WINDOWS OF THE WORLD: A FORMER FRESNO AD DESIGNER FINDS A NEW CAREER AND A WORLDWIDE REPUTATION IN RELIGIOUS ARTWORK
Ron Orozco
The Fresno Bee – California – KRTBN
Published: Feb 10, 2007
Corky Normart is king of religious art in the central San Joaquin
Valley.
At St. Columba Episcopal Church’s parish hall in northwest Fresno,
his stained-glass window, "Biblical Creation," features a gold cross
glowing with hundreds of red, purple, blue and gold rays.
At the California Armenian Home chapel in east Fresno, Normart’s "Tree
of Life" stained-glass window bears fruit in white, yellow and blue.
At St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in east Fresno, his stained-glass
window "The Annunciation of Mary" depicts the mother of Jesus with
a halo of orange, red and yellow.
Sixteen Valley churches and chapels, including some at hospitals and
retirement homes, display Normart’s religious art, making him a local
artist with a big impact on the faith community.
"He’s everywhere," says the Rev. James Snell, pastor of St. Columba
Church.
"He’s been a local icon for artists, and not just his stained glass,
but for his creativity."
After a long career as an art designer in advertising, Normart, 77,
has developed a second career with his religious art. His first work
was in 1983: a stained-glass window of an angel, "The Third Day,"
for the St. Columba chapel.
Normart is in demand in the Valley, but he also has an international
reputation. More than 10 years ago, he designed and oversaw the
restoration of the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem, the church traditionally believed to be built on the site
where Jesus was entombed.
In the Valley, Normart’s art is going to be showing up in more places,
including College Community Congregational Church in north Fresno.
In September, Zion Congregational Church in Fresno closed, and the
40 members decided to combine with College Community Congregational
Church. The former Zion members are bringing the stained-glass windows
that Normart made in 1999 with them.
Normart dubbed seven of the windows "The Seven Days," one for each
day in the account in Genesis, in which God creates the world.
These days, Normart is busy installing the windows portraying the
first six days — and creating a new window for the seventh day —
behind the altar at College Community Congregational Church.
At the rear of the sanctuary, Normart is installing the original
seventh-day window in the middle of two other windows he previously
had made for Zion.
"The windows are so special to us," former Zion member Eileen White
says.
Parishioners at St. Mary’s on East Kings Canyon Road also will see
more stained-glass windows by Normart.
In addition to "The Annunciation of Mary," which Normart shows in two
window panels, he also created two more window panels on the other
side of the worship hall, depicting the Annunciation of Joseph.
"They’re especially striking in the morning, when the sun comes
through at the 8 o’clock service," says the Rev. Michael Fry, pastor
of St. Mary’s.
Those four windows no sooner went up than parishioners agreed they
needed more of Normart’s religious art.
Normart is currently planning four more windows to continue the themes
of Mary and Joseph. He is toying with the idea of new windows next
to Mary with roses, the flower traditionally linked to her. Next
to Joseph’s windows, Normart is thinking about new windows with
lilies. ("He often is depicted in art with them," Normart says.)
Normart says he also is planning windows with Canterbury and Celtic
crosses because they symbolize the Anglican heritage of St. Mary’s
and other Episcopal churches.
"He’s done a lot of work with Episcopal churches in the area," Frye
says of Normart. "We’re glad to be associated with him."
Normart also has religious art displayed at Episcopal churches in
Los Banos (St. Alban’s) and Riverbank (Christ The King Parish). The
Episcopal Conference Center of Oakhurst also has Normart’s art.
Regardless of the denomination, Normart says he begins each religious
art project the same way.
He talks with clergy members, administrators and others to determine
what they want and offers his suggestions. Then, after coming to a
preliminary agreement, Normart prays and seeks inspiration by reading
scriptural passages.
"I’ve done more Bible readings since I’ve done the windows,"
Normart says.
Normart says he won’t ever forget his first religious art.
In 1983, a family member had a serious illness, and Normart had a hard
time dealing with it. A friend advised him to go to the St. Columba
chapel, where he would be able to gather his thoughts.
Normart got down on his knees, wept and prayed.
Out of that experience, Normart says he began to feel a sense of
peace and new insight into his feelings.
Maybe it was Normart’s artistic eye, but he also noticed the chapel
had a window that reminded him of a shower door — nothing inspiring.
So Normart got permission to create a stained-glass window in place of
the existing window. Normart had never crafted a stained-glass window,
but he went for it.
He created the angel, trumpeting Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension
to heaven. He dubbed the window "The Third Day," based on the account
in the Gospel of Luke 24:21.
Normart says he just wanted to "give back" to St. Columba for what
its chapel meant to him. He also says he wanted to help others coming
to the chapel in similar desperation.
In 1995, Normart’s abilities became internationally known when he was
commissioned to return a sense of awe to the dome of the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. The dome had fallen into disrepair from neglect
by its caretakers, representing Greeks, Armenians and Roman Catholic
Christians.
Normart’s idea was 23-carat gold-leafing for the dome’s 12 rays —
one for each of Jesus’ apostles — and the heavenly stars.
For nearly three years, Normart made dozens of trips to the
project. Then, one day, Normart linked his first religious artwork
in Fresno, "The Third Day," to the dome of the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre.
"On the third day, Jesus rose again and ascended into heaven,"
Normart says.
"I realized he rose from this tomb, which is the tomb under the dome
that I designed."
In 2002, Normart was commissioned to return to St. Columba, where
expansion plans were in the works for the parish hall and chapel.
Normart nearly tripled the size of "The Third Day" window and created
another new window for the chapel. He also created a 12-foot by 15-foot
stained-glass window, the "Biblical Creation," for the parish hall.
Normart says he feels satisfaction that his religious art helps people
to feel a sense of pleasure or deeper spiritual understanding.
In 1998, for example, Normart was in a corridor just outside the
California Armenian Home chapel. He was on a ladder, cleaning a
stained-glass window of Mount Ararat, which is dear to many residents
of Armenian descent.
Normart remembers the "click, click, click" sound of a woman resident
using a walker to enter the chapel. She was unaware Normart was nearby.
She looked into the chapel. And, upon seeing Normart’s stained-glass
windows, including "The Tree of Life," she said, "Oh, my."
Normart says the woman continued clicking her way into the chapel —
and she started singing the traditional hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross."
Normart remembers: "She sang the whole thing. I don’t know who she
was. She must have been in her 90s. She knew all of the words. She
just went right through them."
Normart’s friend, the Rev. Donald Mansir, who helped Normart land
the job in Jerusalem, says people appreciate Normart’s art because
it both inspires and educates them. When that happens, people also
experience a sense of closeness with God.
"Corky prays, so he is receiving an inspired instruction because of
the kind of man he is," Mansir, a Franciscan priest and chairman of
the Bishop John S. Cummins Institute for Catholic Thought, Culture
and Action at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.
"Both our intellect and heart have to be involved," Mansir says.
Normart says, "There are 10,000 artists who can do as well, if not
better, artistically, than me. I’ve been given the chance, so I say,
‘Thank you very much.’"
The reporter can be reached at rorozco@fresnobee.com
(mailto:rorozco@fresnobee.co m) or (559) 441-6304