A gathering of 7 Tiffany angels

Few of us have ever stood so close to stained-glass windows of this outstanding quality, but there they are: seven rare, rediscovered, eight-foot Tiffany windows portraying seven angels named in the Bible's Book of Revelation who address the early Christian churches of Asia.

These towering works constitute "In Company With Angels: Seven Tiffany Windows," a traveling display at the Delaware Art Museum.

Louis Comfort Tiffany was commissioned to make them for a Swedenborgian church being built in Cincinnati in the English village-parish style. And there they remained from 1903 until the church was demolished for a highway in 1964 and the windows placed in storage, where they languished until recently.

Tiffany did lots of windows for houses of worship, but half are believed lost. So this "find" of a series of such windows, their restoration in West Chester, and the dedication of In Company With Angels, a nonprofit group, to preserving and exhibiting the windows are reasons to cheer.

You'll want to examine closely some of Tiffany's characteristic dramatic effects with glass, especially his fusing of different colors during manufacture to obtain an iridescent glow. Also noteworthy is the pulling and twisting of molten glass to suggest folds of cloth, and his bending and reflecting of light by his use of thick polished-glass chunks. It's a thrill the windows are back.

Delaware Art Museum, 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington. To Feb. 24. Tue-Sat 10-4, Sun noon-4. Adults $10; free on Sundays. 302-571-9590.

Abington Art Center

. Abington's current annual juried show attracted 357 entries in all media by 196 area artists. Its juror, Andrea Kirsh, accepted 51 works by 45 artists, producing a lively exhibit of very considerable interest and sophistication.

Among the prizewinners were several that sell short the humanizing potential of art, among them the "best in show," an untitled work made of a pile of paper straws saturated in black dye by Bruce Campbell of Philadelphia, and

Barbie Teapots

, consisting of miniature dismembered female torsos in porcelain by Jessica Hersh of Doylestown. The show also includes an attractive Hersh porcelain vase.

Campbell's piece, in particular, scores high in the "art that suggests life is meaningless" category. Likewise,

Bedtime Stories

, a prizewinning monotype by Carole Meyers of Huntingdon Valley, trivializes her response to life.

Abington Art Center, 515 Meetinghouse Rd., Jenkintown. To Jan. 25. Tue-Fri 10-5, Thu to 7, Sat 10-3. Free. 215-887-4882. Closed Jan.1.

Michener Museum.

Four members of the volunteer group Barefoot Artists, founded by artist Lily Yeh of Philadelphia, are showing 30-plus recent photos of Rwanda's resilient children in the show "Spark of Hope" at the Michener in Doylestown.

Most photos were taken at the government-built Rugerero Survivors' Village of children born since the 1994 genocide. This show concludes a two-year Barefoot Artists project of helping survivors create a memorial to the victims of the genocide and build community sustainability, as is glimpsed here. But closeups of children, some bristling with raw energy, others subdued, are the focus in featured photos by Chris Noble of Utah, Thomas Jefferson University medical student Komal Soin, Chris Landy of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia-born Jennifer Heckman. Michener's pen-pal program, meanwhile, links Rwandan and Bucks County children.

James A. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown. To Jan. 13. Tue-Fri 10-4:30, Sat 10-5, Sun noon-5. Adults $6.50. 215-340-9800. Closed Jan. 1.