Vol. XLIV (2020)

Our 2020 issue reflects stained glass in the Pandemic, beginning with the poignant front cover and guest editorial by American artist Judith Schaechter FMGP. Articles are international in scope, even to the moon and back! These juxtapose the work and experiences of two early Royal College of Art stained glass graduates Harold Rhodes and Charles Sidney Groves, who respectively practised and taught in the north of England and in South Africa. A rare example of German Expressionism in stained glass is explored at a Camphill community in northern Scotland, and the discovery of the original East window by William Warrington for a village church in Smeeth, Kent is examined in the context of the commissioning process for its 1960s replacement. New research documents the complex changes over a century to a Munich-made iconostasis in Ukraine. More recent history is rounded off by the remarkable Nebula stained glass scheme by Stephen Wilson at the ‘church of the Astronauts’ in Houston, Texas. The recent exciting discovery and reinstallation of significant medieval stained glass canopies at Wilton House is amplified by conservation and art historical analysis.

Contemporary Practice covers Prizes & Awards given by the Glaziers Company during 2020, and the impressive range of commissions completed by BSMGP Fellows and Associates, despite the Pandemic. Eleven in-depth reviews of new publications are followed by detailed obituaries for Rosalind Grimshaw FMGP and for Burne-Jones scholar and National Gallery of Canada Curator Emeritus Dr Douglas Schoenherr (whose expert contributions have graced former JSG issues), and by tributes to long-time BSMGP members George Wigley and Paul Sharpling.