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Holdman Studios has created art glass windows for more than 100 temples for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but to the studio’s artists, the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple is a bit different.

It’s been a much more personal experience.

The temple is visible from Lehi’s Thanksgiving Point area where Holdman Studios is located, and some Holdman Studios artists actually live in the new Saratoga Springs temple district. When a walk-through of the temple was conducted for the crews who helped construct it, Holdman Studios’ entire staff went on the tour — something the studio has never been able to do before.

“I see it as our temple for our studio,” said Holdman Studios owner Tom Holdman. “As we gaze upon the windows, all of the cut fingers and the cracked pieces of glass and accidents that have happened along the journey will fade.”

Holdman Studios artists rarely have an opportunity to see their work installed in the place it was designed to occupy. Most of the time, their creations are carefully packed and shipped to the final destination, never to be seen again.

“We have had the opportunity to do stained glass in over 50 countries around the world,” Holdman said. “Here, in Saratoga Springs, was an opportunity for us to see it complete in the structure, and that’s something we don’t often get the chance to do.”

Holdman Studios has worked on or provided design assistance for art glass windows in about 150 Church of Jesus Christ temples around the world. In March, Holdman Studios had members of its team helping install windows in the Layton Utah Temple, the Orem Utah Temple, the Red Cliffs Utah Temple and the Cobán Guatemala Temple.

Design work on the Saratoga Springs temple began in January of 2019; the last windows were installed in the temple in the fall of 2022. Holdman Studios created a total of 567 art glass windows for the temple, which required more than 95,000 individual pieces of glass.

Designing art glass windows for a temple is very much a collaborative effort, Holdman said. Church architects and designers meet together with Holdman Studios artists to discuss and draft ideas.

“When a temple is announced, we then work together as a team,” Holdman said. “We think about how we can help the patron when they enter (the temple) to make it feel like they are home, how to help them to feel comfortable so they can go into their inner self and feel the impressions that they need to hear.”

As part of the design process, Holdman said his team studies the culture, architecture, art and natural surroundings of the temple’s location.

“For instance, on the Red Cliffs temple that we are doing, we studied what botany is special to the area,” he said.

When design elements are decided upon for a temple, those elements are utilized throughout various aspects of the structure, from the stained-glass windows to the stonework and decorative painting. Holdman said temple patrons may not consciously notice this, but they will feel the harmony it creates.

“They feel a congruency through the temple, and that helps them feel more at peace with themselves,” he said.

Evident on the outside of the Saratoga Springs temple and in its art glass windows are motifs of mountains, sky and water. Textured glass in the windows creates a path, or river, from mountains above to waters below. To Holdman, this represents both the flow of physical water from the mountains above Utah Valley to Utah Lake and the flow of “living water” from Jesus Christ.

Creation of the Saratoga Springs art glass windows was not without challenges. “This is the first temple where COVID affected it as far as getting materials, and accomplishing the goal was a lot harder because there were supply chain issues with the glass,” said Aaron Yorgason, vice president of and lead designer at Holdman Studios.

Shipments of needed materials were delayed, which meant extra labor had to be hired to get the work done on time when materials finally arrived. Some glass manufacturers went out of business.

Similar supply problems continue to this day, but Holdman Studios has been able to weather the difficulties “through diligence and by divine intervention,” Holdman said.

“There are many miracles that happened in the completion of this temple,” he said, such as receiving inspiration regarding how to accomplish a seemingly impossible task or finding a needed material in the back room of a supplier’s facility where it had been stored for years.

Stained glass has a long history; created around A.D. 1000 in Europe, it was used as an education tool to help people who could not read learn the stories in the Bible.

“From the beginning, it was created as its own language,” Holdman said. “As you look at a visual image, it speaks to you; whether you speak English or Spanish or Japanese, you understand it. Whether you are a member of our church or of a different church, it still speaks to you and you understand it. And that’s the power of art, and it is enhanced by stained glass.”

Unlike other forms of art, stained glass has the additional aspect of light. How one experiences the art will differ depending on whether one is inside or outside, or whether it’s a sunny day or a cloudy one.

This fact makes viewing art glass a fascinating and engaging experience.

“As the sun rolls across the sky, the stained glass will alter and change,” Holdman said. “So it’s not just one piece of art, but hundreds of pieces of art, and so it is an ever-moving experience.”

Yorgason said having art glass in a temple adds a great deal to the visitor’s experience. “It’s a huge factor in the overall aura or feel of the interior,” he said. “It’s a large part of the patron experience because when you’re in the temple, there’s a lot of time when you’re reflecting” and can take time to view the stained-glass windows.

Both Holdman and Yorgason, who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said they have felt inspiration from heaven while working on temple projects.

“Sometimes we present something and it’s rejected, and I’ve had to get on my knees to get revelation because it wasn’t what I thought it would be,” Yorgason said.

“I feel like our team gets inspiration from above, that God is the ultimate artist and we are tools in his hand. I absolute- ly believe that,” Holdman said.

It is fulfilling to know people will soon walk through the temple and feel the emotions the art glass was created to help them experience, Holdman said.

“Through the inspirations and the agonies of the process, what helps us through that, what helps us through the years’ worth of work, is knowing that you have the ability to share how you feel about the beauty of God’s creations,” he said. “For me, it’s amazing. I’m totally excited.”

The Saratoga Springs temple won’t be the last time Holdman Studios contributes to temple building in Utah Valley; the studio has also been working on windows for the new temples in Orem and Lindon.

W e o f f e r a l u x u r y c u s t o m c o n s t r u c t i o n c o m p a n y s e r v i n g t h e g r e a t e r U t a h V a l l e y a r e a .