Stained glass windows exhibition

This January, the Centre d’Art at Citadines hosts the first ever Auroville exhibition of stained glass, made by Robert l’Heureux.

His name is virtually unknown, as is his art. I chanced upon his work during a morning walk, passing by Luminosity, when something glinting caught my eye – the sun reflecting a stained glass window.

“It was meant to be covered,” says Robert by way of explanation. “I wanted to keep it from the public eye until my exhibition in Citadines which opens on January 8th. You see, this will be the first appearance of my work.”

Robert came to Auroville in early 2013 while visiting a friend in Pondicherry. “I didn’t know anything about Auroville. He took me around and then…” He hesitates, trying to find the right word, “And then something completely unexpected happened. I felt I was being submerged by something, something drew me in that was so powerful that I just had to surrender. I stayed on for three months working at the Matrimandir. When I returned to Canada, I knew that the next step in my life would be here.” In September, 2014, he became a Newcomer, and 18 months later an Aurovilian.

It was not Robert’s first time in India. “I always had an attraction for things out of the ordinary. I had visited India 25 years earlier, staying for a few weeks in the Sera Jey Monastery in Karnataka near Mysore. I was helping a friend shoot a movie about a young person from Montreal who was recognized as a reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist lama.” During that stay, Robert realised that he had a strong bond with Tibetan Buddhism. “I studied it, felt connected, but taking refuge in Buddhism was not for me: there were too many rituals. My spiritual path is more in line with the powerful energy that’s here in Auroville.”

Robert’s interest in glass art came at an early age, when he visited a stained glass workshop. He was captivated. “I’m a fast learner and soon started my own atelier in Baie-Saint-Paul, a small city outside Québec on the Saint Lawrence River. This was the birthplace of Cirque du Soleil – all the crazy people lived there.” He worked for five years trying to survive on glass art, but it was not easy. “You need to put bread on the plate so, when opportunity presented itself, I opened a café. I did the interior design, installed a few stained glass windows, then sold it, and bought and sold the next one, and so on for quite some time. I didn’t like to stay quiet at that time. In 2002, I opened a French bistro with an attached bakery and patisserie, employing 35 people. This one I kept for 12 years. But I knew that at some point in time, when there would no longer be an economic and family pressure, all my life’s questions, the inside call, would take priority. Then Auroville arrived, and took over, and circumstances arranged themselves that rekindled my aspiration to restart my glass art.” Soon he got “the perfect studio in Luminosity”, and almost immediately afterwards the apartment on top. “Circumstances or synchronicities allowed me to follow my dream. I was finally free to create what I wanted.”

Asked about his inspiration, Robert says he admires the fantastic stained glass windows of the Romanesque and Gothic churches, and those of modern artists such as Chagall, “but my true inspiration is Tiffany, famous for his lamps and beautiful glass panels. He innovated stained glass art. The stained glass windows of the cathedrals were made of glass placed in thick leaden frames. Tiffany invented a method where glass edges are wrapped with thin copper strips, and then the copper is soldered with melted tin. This permits a much more elaborate design, with finer separations between the glass pieces.”

Stained glass is not so common in India and good glass is difficult to come by. Not that this bothered Robert. “I am an entrepreneur and used to starting from scratch. I got directions about where to buy glass. I went to Bangalore, but the choice of glass available was very limited and it was very expensive as it was imported from the USA. Last summer I managed to contact a Chinese firm which had the material I wanted. It was a five months’ process. They sent the samples, provided an excellent service, and a month and a half ago I took delivery of 2,000 kilos of differently coloured glass panes. This will last me for the next few years, if not longer.”

As he is not looking for orders at this moment, Robert freely designs his own one-of-a-kind stained glass windows or panels. Imagination, he says, flows freely, often unexpectedly so. “Since I have been here, so many things have changed in my life. I go to my place and meditate, and often inspiration flows like never before – sometimes a veritable explosion. Of course, I also draw a blank – but more often it is rich and abundant. I am much more confident than I used to be, as if restrictions have dissolved. There is a great evolution in my artistry – it feels a hundred times better than my earlier attempts in Canada.” He points at a drawing for a triptych, a room divider. “The frame is being made, but the artwork is already in my head. It will be the last piece for the exhibition.”

Auroville architects and interior designers haven’t shown much interest so far, but Robert expects that to change. “I didn’t do any marketing as yet. I expect that, apart from Auroville, my market will probably be the Indian upper middle class. With prices substantially lower than in Canada, my works will be quite affordable. I’ve faith that everything will flow just the same way as everything else has flowed up to now.”