Symbolism of stained glass windows

Gothic as a style has been hi-jacked many times (not least by the horror literature, vampires and "goths"). 

"Only a minority of modern designers have followed Ruskin's ideal of anonymous craftsmen working in harmony for the benefit of art and society"  "Some modern co-operations use Gothic as a branding device.  However, wheareas the monastic buildings represented and promoted specific morals, the modern counterpart has no specific meaning." (Buchanan)

"East window of the quire at Gloucester Cathedral is the largest window in Europe.

The medieval stained glass shows the powerful on earth surmounted by the heavenly hierarchy"

"At Coventry, a mdern cathedral replaced its bombed medieval predecessor.  John Piper's stained glass in the Baptistry is abstract, but the luminous colours [were] inspired by Gothic glass"

      

I think the effect of the circular light flooding through glass stunning and memorable of the sun rising through the canopy of a dense forest reflecting off the leaves and silhouetting the branches.  I think it would be amazing to enhace the effect in an outdoor forest setting by installing stained glass (or some other transparent or reflective coloured material) in the canopy.

David Booth informed me that a sculpture Kevin Atherton had done something similar in the FOD (See link).  However, I feel this piece of art is simply stuck up there and is not sympathetic to or integrated with the context of the forest.  I will be truing to achieve more sympathy. Further, the stained glass is static and does not move with the wind, so the light reflections are not optimised.  I will aim to create something more akin to a "mobile" that plays in the breeze...

            http://www.forestofdean-sculpture.org.uk/sculptures/current/cathedral/

Regarding symbolism, I can't help but be reminded of the modern art of having one's genetic fingerprint framed and hung on the wall. There is great symbolism in that we are all the ongoing adaptation of a genetic code under the constant process of natural selection...