Andrew Goldkuhle
Andrew Goldkuhle is a stained-glass artisan based in Hanover, Virginia. A third-generation craftsman with deep ties to his family’s glass legacy, his work centers on preserving and conserving existing windows, as well as working in concert with artists to craft new windows. “My passion is trying to work through somebody else’s project to understand how they arrived at the artwork that they did,” he says.
Goldkuhle’s father, Dieter Goldkuhle, was a German-born stained-glass artisan who immigrated to the United States in 1962 to work on windows for the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. A master of his trade, Dieter crafted more than sixty windows for the Cathedral, including the magnificent west rose window, often working together with artist Rowan LeCompte. Andrew Goldkuhle grew up surrounded by stained glass. His father’s studio was in the basement of their home, and he and his brother, Guido, also a stained-glass artisan, would fall asleep to the sound of their father’s gentle tapping as he restored glass windows on his worktable. “Right underneath our nose was a guy who lived a pretty high-quality life and had built quite a legacy,” Goldkuhle says.
Although he was born into a family trade, Goldkuhle did not immediately follow in his father’s footsteps. He and Guido would occasionally help their father on various projects “for pocket money” in the summers, but each went to college and pursued their own career paths. Goldkuhle worked in the general contracting field for several years but found himself increasingly drawn to his father’s profession. “You get to a certain point where you’re not interested in trying to prove yourself in the corporate world or climb the ladder. I was really attracted to my dad’s soul-fulfilling work,” he says. He treasures the year that he was able to work side by side with his father before he passed away in 2011 at the age of seventy-two.
Like his father, who saw himself as a “midwife to the window,” Goldkuhle does not view himself as an artist creating new works but rather as “an artisan working with someone’s else’s concept to bring it to reality.” He loves the technical aspects of making and restoring stained-glass windows, from cutting, assembling, and firing the glass to installing the finished works in their rightful architectural space. An expert in preserving old stained-glass windows, he enjoys the problem solving and attention to detail involved in the restoration process. “Every step is critical to the success of the window,” he says.
Goldkuhle has left his stamp on a wide variety of projects, including fabricating new windows for the Little Sanctuary at St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., and collaborating with his brother to restore windows for the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania and the historic chapel at Duke University. He has restored several windows for Washington National Cathedral and recently had the honor of crafting the Cathedral’s newest stained-glass windows: the Now and Forever Windows designed by acclaimed artist Kerry James Marshall. Goldkuhle worked closely with Marshall to realize the artist’s concept and vision for a pair of windows dedicated to racial justice—selecting and cutting pieces of colored glass, carefully piecing them together, firing them, and finally installing the completed windows in the Cathedral for posterity.
For Goldkuhle, working at the Cathedral holds special meaning. He has been visiting the iconic structure with his father since childhood and now carries forward his craft legacy. “You feel like you’re taking care of your father’s house,” he says. “I can see his fingerprints in every corner of the building. I can tell which windows he worked on, just by looking at them.” Just like his father before him, he strives for perfection in his work. “There’s a part of you that you’ve left for the world,” he says. “That’s what keeps me going.”
