LEWISTON — Earlier this year, Bryan McNulty took a turn in his career. He left his job as the director of media relations at Bates College, where he worked for 12 years. He left behind academia’s corduroy and tweed and became an artist.

Name: Bryan McNulty

Age: 60

Hometown: Poland Spring

Single, relationship or married? Married to Mary McNulty

Children? Two sons, David and Ronan

At 60 years old, lots of other men are perfecting their golf game. Why start something new?  After 34 years in primarily desk-bound public relations and newspaper jobs, I wanted an encore career in which I move muscles while manipulating three-dimensional things. The transition started coming together five years ago, when I began working with stained glass at a wonderful place in Lisbon, Maine Art Glass. I also started weekly Auburn Adult Ed woodworking classes — another liberating experience. In May, I was able to make the leap from my salary job to contractor when I got the chance to work in home renovations with Paul O’Brien Services. My wife and I had hired Paul for improvements on three houses we’ve owned in Maine over the last 30 years, and I like his sense of quality and fairness. I’m enjoying the transition. The home renovations pay the bills, and I’ll get a chance occasionally to recommend improvements that involve stained glass.

What’s the appeal of stained glass?  If you were to bring a caveman into your car and show him a handful of rubies and emeralds and a red-yellow-green traffic light, which would impress him the most? I bet it would be the traffic light.

What makes a good piece?  In some ways stained glass is like photography, which means “writing with light.” Composition and choices of color have to be right or you won’t enjoy looking at it in morning and evening light for the rest of your life.

Most of us know stained glass from church. What’s your reaction when you see a large, detailed installation in a church? It was while touring a medieval French church in 1981 that I first really appreciated stained glass. I saw these incredibly vivid blues and reds in the church’s windows. Nothing else ages so well as stained glass and gives sensual pleasure to so many over hundreds of years.

What was your first creation? Our house is near the road, so I created family coat-of-arms privacy screens for our two front windows. Mine features the red hand of Ulster between an elk and a lion, and my wife’s crest has five fleurs-de-lis.

How much time do you spend on a finished piece?  It depends on size and complexity. A small window hanging might take 10 hours. A piece as large as a double-hung bathroom window might take months, working at it part-time.

Is it frustrating working in an art form that’s inherently fragile? Sometimes, but I just consider that the trade off for a medium that is jewel-like but much larger, more varied and interesting than jewels.

What’s your favorite piece that you created? A stylized cityscape for my sister-in-law’s front door in Northern Ireland. It casts great light and colors in her hallway while providing privacy.

What would you like to be able to make? Anything that is functional yet beautiful.