Over the last couple of years while researching for the final two chapters of the book, a few artists have kindly asked if I would like to make a piece of stained glass with them. In these cases time has been a limiting factor, but the subject came up again earlier in the year in conversation with Alun Adams of the Architectural Glass Centre, Swansea, and last week I made my first work in glass with the help of Owen Luetchford at their studio.
The piece will be part of my new exhibition, ‘Patterns, Monsters and Mysteries’ at Oriel Q, Queen’s Hall, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, which opens on Saturday 2 August. For more about the exhibition please visit my website. In addition to the piece, which is based on the pattern of a fourteenth-century tile at the former Cistercian abbey of Strata Florida, a second piece is composed of samples made in June with both Owen and his colleague Stacey Poultney. I will post some images next week after the opening.
As well as the main exhibition, which is primarily digital prints based on various suspects of medieval ecclesiastical visual culture, an exhibition of my photographs of stained glass can be found on the stairs.
My thanks are due to Owen and Stacey for their expertise and craftsmanship, and to Alun for facilitating the collaboration. The experience considerably enriched my understanding of the possible relationships between craftspeople, designers, artists and assistants that underlie the creation of most works in stained glass. Hopefully I will have opportunities to make more work in glass in the future.
Stained Glass from Welsh Churches 