STUDIO 107 ARTISTS CREATE WINDOWS FOR HISTORIC COURTHOUSE

During a several month period in 2010, local artists The Five Glassy Chix, worked with the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society to refurbish and create several leaded glass door and transom windows for the historic Henry County courthouse in Uptown Martinsville.

Virginia King, Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society president, whose group led the renovation efforts, commissioned the Chix in the winter of 2010 to refurbish two windows from the outside exit doors of the upstairs courtroom. Under the guidance of Amanda Honoré Donley, then an instructor for Patrick Henry Community College's School of Craft & Design, the group cleaned and reassembled the windows, which were then reinstalled in the courthouse doors.

In the summer of 2010, the Chix were again commissioned by Mrs. King to create replacements for two door and two transom windows that were missing from the lower front entrance doors of the courthouse. The Chix worked from a design provided by Mrs. King to create the windows in a boxed diamond pattern.

"Repairing the two door windows for the courtroom exit doors had been our lesson in how to construct the new door windows and transoms," said Lynn Berry of The Five Glassy Chix. "We simply repeated those steps in creating the new windows." It took the Chix several weeks to complete the windows, which can be seen in and above the front entrance doors to the courthouse.

Berry also said, "It is exciting to drive by the historic courthouse, see our work and know that the windows will be there for many, many years to come."

The Five Glassy Chix include Aleen Wilson, Lynn Berry, Doris Falls, Nancy Clark and Susan Henderson. They work out of Studio 107 Artists Studios for Piedmont Arts in Uptown Martinsville.