To celebrate the Centenary of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, we invited all Members to create an exhibition panel measuring 30cm x 30cm. There was no theme and no restriction on techniques or materials, provided glass was involved.
We selected 60 panels to exhibit in our Centenary Touring Exhibition, which launched in the autumn of 2021 at The Stained Glass Museum in Ely. The two display stands housing the work then visited Winchester Cathedral, All Saints Church, Bristol, the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, Wells and Worcester Cathedrals, Oxford Cathedral and Lichfield Cathedral. After briefly stopping at the International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge the exhibition reached it’s final venue in Manchester Cathedral and finished in November 2022.
You can watch an ITV news item about the exhibition here.
Enjoy the online exhibition. Just click on the image to scroll through the panels, and there are more on the following pages.
Mel Howse AMGP 'Open Mind'
Enamels. Glass. Lamination. 'Guided by spontaneity. An intuitive work.'
Sarah Knighton AMGP 'La Danse'
Painted and stained etched flash glass. Framed within a mechanism which allows the two layers to rotate in opposite directions. 'The turning circles create a kaleidoscope effect of movement and colour. Theme is the Memento Mori tradition of remembering death as inspiration to live.'
Emma Butler Cole Aiken AMGP 'Reel'
Painted and leaded glass. 'You know that social distancing is getting to you when you look at some trees and imagine them dancing at a ceilidh. Longing for what will again be but far from possible at the time of making.'
Natasha Redina ‘The Alchemist’
Stained glass painting. ‘The theme is transmutation and the interwoven historical roots of glasswork and alchemy. The images were inspired by three pieces, the woodcut of glass workshops by Jost Amman (Frankfurt 1586), The Flammarion wood engraving and the oil painting of 'An old man holding a pilgrim bottle' in the National Gallery London (circa 1650's) both by unknown artists.'
Petri Anderson AMGP 'Metamorphosis'
Plated flash glass and 2mm float glass with etching, engraving, vitreous glass paint, enamels, jean cousin, copper and silver stain. 'The inspiration for this piece came from the dismay of witnessing a succesion of divisive events taking place. With this social backdrop, Metamorphosis explores the personal quest for freedom set against predators and scavengers plotting from the shadows.'
Deborah Lowe AMGP 'Wish I was here'
Painted, silver stained and leaded antique glass. 'My last sight of the sea before lockdown was from the top of the 199 Whitby Abbey steps looking out over the harbour. This is a fantasia on that moment by a landlocked midlander!'
Annie Ross ‘Ships Passing in the Night’
Etched, flashed red on clear and a variety of coloured glasses painted and fired. 'The theme alludes to the night time passage of ships, with the glow of their lights. The shapes painted on the coloured glass are taken from seaweed forms and almost envelop the ships, the aim to make the whole moody and mysterious!'
Nicola Kantorowicz FMGP 'Summer Breeze'
Painted and leaded antique stained glass. 'An abstract interpretation of decorative elements found in the natural landscape.'
Derek Hunt FMGP 'Self Portrait'
Pen drawing using vitreous pigments and oils, with an abstract selection of
antique glass pieces dry glazed into a semi-opal glass unit. 'This experimental
piece is my response to living through the pandemic, which has touched us
all and left a surreal collection of memories and emotions to contend with.'
Rachel Phillips AMGP 'Flowers for Ros'
Painted, fired-polished antique glasses. 'I only met Ros Grimshaw a couple of times but was lucky enough to be inspired by her instinctual collage-based approach to glass, something that seemed to offer unlooked-for surprises and a re-connection with play and creativity. In lockdown I spent time trying this and learnt that nothing is ever wasted, even the regret of not knowing someone better, if only I let it speak to me in a new way.'
Isobel Brunsdon 'Long Man Walk'
Printed and Reusche and Debitus painted mouth blown glass. 'The Long Man of Wilmington is a giant chalk hill figure on Windover Hill on the South Downs he is an iconic symbol in the local area, you get the feeling of being watched and dwarfed as you walk the footpath winding around and above him.'
Roland Mitton AMGP 'Misty Morning'
Stained and painted antique glass. 'We live close to Loch Leven in Fife and on a bright winter morning with the sun
breaking through the mist, bare trees, over the water- it is rather magical'
Helen Russell ‘Pond life’
Stained glass panel using English Antique and Lamberts flashed glass, engraved, painted, silver stained and leaded. 'This panel was inspired by my country walks during lockdown in 2020 and the lifecycle of creatures that live in or near our streams and ponds. Their lives continued oblivious to the interruptions to our world.'
Michael Vincent ‘All For Our Tomorrow’
Acid etch, Reusche glass paint, silver stain, leaded antique glass. ‘For all the human and animal sacrifice who gave their today for our tomorrow.’
Judith Schaechter FMGP 'Solitary Confinement'
Sandblasted, engraved, hand-filed enameled flash glass, assembled with lead and copper foil. 'The piece was inspired by what one might hallucinate whilst in isolation.'
Benjamin Pascal Finn AMGP 'Peter’s vision Acts 10:11'
Mainly Wissmach glass, glass paint and silver stain. 'Peter’s vision on the roof of a house near Joppa of ‘unclean’ animals descending accompanied by a voice saying ‘what God hath made clean call not thou unclean’.'
Kate Henderson AMGP ‘Unite’
Stained glass leaded panel with textured glass, silver stain and acrylic paint. ‘My aim was to make a painterly piece which “united” fragments of glass; from Norman Slab to Bullseye glass using old and new processes to reflect the diversity of stained glass in the 21st Century.’
Jane Littlefield 'Dog and Birds'
Tatra glass and float, hand painted. 'Imagining mythologies and celebrating nature. During lockdown I have been inspired by traditional folk art, as well as the celebration of nature and green space, which have been so important for our well being.'
Surinder Warboys 'Hide and Seek'
Antique glass, paint and silver chloride, diaper technique, staining, firing and plating. 'The panel evolved out of thoughts on climate change and coming across an article in which the elephant was referred to as an Environmental Engineer.'
Pippa Stacey ‘Nest of Hope - 23 Eggs’
Glass gilded with gold, lemon gold and white gold. 'My love of feathers, eggs and nests prompted me to investigate that over the last 100 years there have been 23 species of British birds which have either been reintroduced, in recovery or under threat. I have chosen to document this in my gilded panel.'
John Barzallo 'Charterhouse Spiral'
Original Clayton & Bell painted glass leaded together. 'Fragments of damaged glass from Charterhouse school are held together with spiralling lead. Creating something new from 150 years old glass.'