Glass articles - Glass Makers and Artists |
This lecture included a varied selection of images with the intention of showing the variety of work that passes through the contemporary stained glass studio of Stained Glass Design Partnership. The team has comprised at most twelve people but this year included the two partners (Susan Bradbury and Paul Lucky), four craftsmen/women (Stuart Murray, Tracy Smith, Ross Ferguson and Nicol Spence) supported by admin assistant Margaret Rae. They are based at Glencairn Studio in the former Kilmaurs Glencairn Church in Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, about half an hour south of Glasgow.
One of the faces from the Mary & Martha window at Bo’ness Old Parish Church showing the way loss of painted detail can be treated with backplating, where the missing pigment is painted & fired onto a thin sheet of float glass and placed behind the original deteriorated image. |
Conservation was discussed first, starting with impressive before & after views of the restoration of a storm damaged Crucifixion window from Our Lady & St Andrews Church in Galashiels. Loss of detail caused by deterioration of the fired pigment on the surface of the glass is a common problem frequently remedied by back-plating and this was illustrated with slides of a memorial window in Bo’ness Old Kirk. SGDP spent six years conserving the stained glass of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh but only a small selection of images could be shown, one interesting aspect being the creation of rich deep colours by Ballantine’s studio in the 1890s, using a double layer of glass.
SGDP recently conserved the Tiffany window from the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, a magnificent window that spent decades in store but is now on display again. Susan showed a selection of glorious details of this window, concentrating on the underlying layers that are normally covered and were only briefly exposed during conservation work.
Other aspects of historic glass discussed included the joys of living with a real Burne Jones window, working with Mike Hunter (of Twists Glass, another speaker at the conference) to recreate glass for the Hunterian Gallery’s recreation of the Mackintosh room at the Turin Exhibition of 1902, and discovering the art-deco glass in Java whilst working on a British Council project to introduce stained glass to the curriculum in Indonesia.
New work (as opposed to conservation) was introduced by a 5m diameter rose window of the “Cosmos” which was installed when the former Glencairn Church was converted to Glencairn Studio, and the full-size cartoon for a modern “Last Supper” which includes portrait heads of all the current team at SGDP and which has been recently installed at Dailly Parish Church. Among others the designs included:
With most members of the audience being glass enthusiasts, Susan concentrated throughout on glass types and techniques, with a smattering of history and science, and a few anecdotes to give a true-to-life impression of what it is like to work in a contemporary stained glass studio.
St Columba's Stewarton |
Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s Church was gutted by fire in 1994. Before this, Stained Glass Design Partnership had carried out all necessary conservation of the former windows and during this work Susan had made a series of sketches of the wings of the Archangels who stood either side of Christ in the Resurrection window. She had very mixed feelings when she used these sketches as the basis for the new resurrection window that filled the same window opening after the fire, when Susan Bradbury and Paul Lucky were commissioned to create an entire scheme of modern stained glass for all the windows. |
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Below: Detail of the “Phoenix” Resurrection window at Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s. |
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Paul Lucky designed a series of six tall lancets on the theme of the Creation. Here we see days three and four, the separation of the land from the sea and the creation of the sun, moon and stars. (Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s.) |
The Crucifixion window from Our Lady & St Andrew’s Church in Galashiels had suffered storm damage but also had a variety of other defects including deformation serious enough to cause cracking of the glass and dirt heavy enough to obscure details of the rather fine glasspainting. The window was fully conserved, including bonding of the legs at the knee and restoration of the skirt of Mary’s robe. |
Here one can see the top layer of confetti glass in the process of being removed
and below one can see this layer ready to be reinstated, having been cleaned, bonded and copper-foiled.
One of many glorious details showing the way some rhododendrons are made of confetti glass but others are made by etching gold-pink flashed glass. Both types are enriched by plating with additional layers.
The lecture was given at the 400th Anniversary Glass Conference, Edinburgh College of Art, October 2010.
Contact DetailsStained glass artist and conservator, Susan Bradbury with partner Paul Lucky head a team of seven craftsmen & women. Studio visits by appointment only. Susan Bradbury & Paul Lucky - Stained Glass Design Partnership Glencairn Studio, 31 Fenwick Raod, Kilmaurs, Ayrshire KA3 2TE Phone: 01563 538189 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Website |
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