After commissioning artist Tom Clark to paint new artwork for its walls, the management at Holy Spirit Greek Orthodox Church, located in Rochester, N.Y., chose a new light source to illuminate the iconic images. The maker of SoLux natural daylight bulbs, Tailored Lighting, also demonstrated a new technique of back-lighting stained glass windows to display the art outward to the community.
The change in illumination came from first-hand experience. Peter Los of Holy Spirit contacted Kevin McGuire, President of Tailored Lighting and the inventor of SoLux, to re-light the church after Los installed SoLux lighting in his own home. “The lighting in our church is fabulous. It really brings the best out of the icons on the walls…The icon of Christ with the gold leaf around it looks great. Before, it was completely in the shadow.”
James Palis a parishioner involved in the re-lighting of the church added, “I think the lighting is an incredible enhancement to the iconography and the ability to dim (the lighting) was essential to the Lenten and Holy Week services.”
Rochester-based Tailored Lighting – which sells the patented SoLux bulbs – also demonstrated a unique lighting method that illuminated the stained glass windows – that were still preserved from their baptist beginnings – from inside the church, resulting in images that could be observed by passersby on the city streets of Rochester.
According to Kevin McGuire, “SoLux lighting provides a presentation of stained glass surpassed only by natural daylight. By lighting the stained glass from inside the church with SoLux, the community can share in the beauty the parishioners see. Perhaps as more churches incorporate what I call the ‘communification’ of their church by installing SoLux to illuminate artwork, both inside and out, more people will want to enter these welcoming doors of faith.”
