After 43 years in business, Harry Tompkin last month closed the door to his Palace Glass shop for the final time.
Tompkin had run the stained glass studio out of a space near 56th Street and Old Cheney Road for the past nine years, but the business previously had different locations around Lincoln.
Technically retired, Tompkin said he will keep some glass, paints, tools and a large kiln in a private studio to finish stained-glass projects he has started and to do repair and restoration work for former clients — ranging from churches, businesses, historical buildings and homes — and to do occasional work for repeat clients.
“You would think that with something like stained glass that basically lasts forever, you wouldn’t have a lot of repeat clients,” Tompkin said. “But typically clients’ kids will come in, and they’ll want me to do a window for their house in Arizona, or a client will want to buy windows for their kids.”
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Palace Glass has also done a lot of glass etching over the years, primarily for signs in banks and doctors’ offices, in addition to repair and restoration work.
Over time, the grout between lead and glass loosens and deteriorates due to expansion and contraction caused by Nebraska’s extreme weather, and it needs to be redone every 50 to 75 years.
When asked where churches and other clients can go to get repairs and maintenance work done for stained glass now that he's retired, Tompkin said he didn’t want to name businesses, but recommended that customers shop around.
“Look at three or four studios,” he said. “Beyond Lincoln, if you have to go up to Omaha to look for something, go up there, or go to Denver. This is a lifelong investment that you need to be happy with for a long time."
Lessons in his youth
As the son of an architect, Tompkin said he learned at a young age from his father about the importance of good design and craftsmanship in making things last.
One day, Tompkin helped his father remove dozens of stained-glass windows from a mansion that was scheduled to be demolished the following day — an experience that helped him decide to make a career out of working with stained glass.
“I figured if it was valuable enough to go in and spend an afternoon salvaging stained-glass windows, and my dad felt that way, then it was worthwhile considering it as a business.”
Tompkin also remembers admiring the stained-glass windows he saw while attending church.
“They were so beautiful,” he shared. “And when the sun shined through, I liked to think of it as an inspiration of God that fills you with wonder.”
So, he took a class in working with stained glass with a friend.
“That started a period of growth and learning for me, and I’m still learning,” Tompkin said. “You can never say you’re done learning. I spent a lot of time going to conferences and taking classes in other cities.”
Tompkin earned a bachelor's degree in English literature with minors in business and philosophy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He noted that Shakespeare’s writing has layers of meaning that people still recognize many generations later.
“I put layers of meaning in my work as well,” Tompkin said. “Some of it is easy because it’s biblical, but some of it is more than that. So that’s part of the reason why I want to continue to do my own design work, because I know that I can strike a chord of art in a different way. I like to show that you can put more into the symbols and the colors, and that somebody could actually study my stained-glass creations like they study literature or film."
Creations for future generations
Tompkin said the idea that his work could mean something to future generations never occurred to him until later in his career.
"My focus has always been to make customers happy and further the stained-glass art in Lincoln," he said. "It just happens that my particular line of work lasts a long time, so it is kind of fulfilling. If we do the job the way you’re supposed to do it, windows will last 300 years or longer with periodic maintenance.”
Some of Tompkin’s work can be found in the Nebraska Capitol building — exit signs, some of the chandeliers and repair work of other lighting.
While most of Palace Glass’ customers have been from the Lincoln area, Tompkin said he has done work in 27 states.
He also worked for a national firm that built retirement resort communities, making windows for their quiet rooms used for meditation.
The creative process
Tompkin said that part of his creative process has always been to get the client involved.
“I tell them what the price ranges are and what that covers, and people then tell me how much they want to spend,” he said. “That allows me to be as creative up to that point as I want to be. I could be awfully creative, but that can get expensive. I can also be very cost effective, but it’s basically that I can make sure they have windows that look really nice but don’t have to cost a mint. That comes from being a designer.”
Tompkin creates his designs on computer-aided design (CAD) software, which enables him to present digital designs to clients who may be hundreds of miles away.
Creating and maintaining stained glass has never been about the paycheck, Tompkin said.
“For me, it was always about the smile I would see on somebody’s face when they’d see a window that I built for them, and that window would not have existed without their input.”
Importance of assistants
Tompkin emphasized that through the years, he could never have completed the work without his assistants.
“I always tell people that my work requires the heart, soul and hands, and all my assistants were my hands," he said. "I would critique it and judge it and make sure it was right before it went out of here, but they learned the skills to do it.
"I used to always say how happy I was that I taught over 800 people how to do stained glass. But I’m even happier that 12 of my former assistants are professional artists right now."
Of all his assistants, Tompkin singled out the work of Marietta Friesen, his lead assistant for 35 years who retired about five years ago.
“Everyone here has heard me talk about Marietta, because she set the bar,” he said. “Marietta was the best set of hands I ever could have had. ... I could go to her and ask, for example, 'This green or this one?' and she would always come up with the right answer. She was very important to the success of my business.”
Exploring new techniques in retirement
As he enters retirement, Tompkin said he will continue to explore new techniques in creating and producing glass art. A new technique that interests him is known as “painting with glass.”
“It’s a labor-intensive technique, but it’s similar to water coloring in a way, except it uses a hard material versus a wet material,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to fully explore all the artistic options that glass offers.”
Other retirement plans include fishing, volunteering and traveling with his wife, Lisa, who he said will retire in less than a year.
“We don’t have any children, but we do have three fur children, and we look forward to spending more time with them,” Tompkin said.
Looking back at his career, Tompkin said the Lincoln community made it possible and nothing else could have been more rewarding to him.
“I am happy that I’ve worked as an actual artist for 43 years doing just art,” he said. “Not many people can say that.”