Albinas Elskus, 80, passed away Feb. 8 at his home in Chamberlain, after suffering heart failure.
Albinas (Albin) was a renowned stained glass artist. He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania on Aug. 21, 1926.
When Russia invaded Lithuania in 1944, he and many other art students fled to Germany to avoid conscription into the Russian Army. As a refugee in Germany he studied architecture in Darmstadt and painting at the Ecoles des Arts et Metiers in Freiburg. He emigrated to Chicago in 1949 and apprenticed at Hackert Stained Glass Studio.
In Chicago, Albin met his future wife, Anna Mary (Ann) Crewdson, of Nitro, W. Va. In l952 he traveled to Paris, studied art at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and met up with Ann who was already in Europe, and they married. Returning to the United States in l953, they settled in New York where he worked with famed stained glass artist, John Gordon Guthrie, at George Durhan & Son Stained Glass Studio.
Over a career that spanned 50 years, Albin produced many works of stained glass that can be found in churches and other institutions throughout the United States and Europe. In Maine he created windows for Notre Dame de Lourdes in Skowhegan; Holy Family Church in Lewiston; and in Damariscotta, Miles Hospital Chapel and Coves Edge Chapel.
He received numerous awards and recognitions, culminating in a Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, and the SGAA’s President’s Award in 2006. His book, ‘The Art of Painting on Glass’, published in 1980, is still in print.
Albin was also an exceptional watercolorist and draftsman. He loved to teach, and he conducted workshops for over 20 years around the United States, including the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle. He taught for many years at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, and Fordam University in Bronx, N.Y. He was also an avid photographer and sailor, having once sailed across the Atlantic to Ireland with friend and playwright, Dean Fuller, in a 31′ sloop.
Two recent events moved Albin very much. In 2004, Albin and Ann attended the Stained Glass Association of America’s Annual Convention in Boston, Mass. They weren’t expected and being late, sat quietly in the back. When it came time for the attendees to introduce themselves, Albin was the last to stand. ‘My name is Albinas Elskus’, he said, which produced a standing ovation from the members.
In 2005, his life’s work was celebrated in a one-man show at the Round Top Center for the Arts entitled ‘Retrospective Exhibition, 50 Years of Stained Glass’, an undertaking he found highly rewarding.
Ann and Albin bought a cottage in Chamberlain in 1962, where they spent summers with their children. In 2004 they moved to Chamberlain year-round.
Albinas is survived by his wife, Ann; children, Adria Elskus, Arilda Densch and Albin Elskus; and grandchildren, Ashley, Brian, Scott and Molly Elskus.
Mass of Christian Burial was held Feb. 10 at St. Patrick’s Church in Newcastle, Rev. Alfred Irving officiated.
He will be laid to rest in the spring at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Newcastle.
A memorial service will also be announced in the summer.
Arrangements are entrusted to Strong Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.
