PAST EXHIBITIONS

2023

2023 Stevens Architectural Glass Competition

1 July 2023 – 12 August 2023

A selection of architectural glass panels which were all submitted as competition entries for the Stevens Architectural Glass Competition, organised annually by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass’ (‘The Glaziers’ Company’). Open to international student glass artists and designers and those who have commenced their vocation in glass within the last eight years, the competition gives emerging stained glass artists an opportunity to compete for a real-life commission.

The 2023 competition was to design two, 1350mm(w) x 2070mm(h) contemporary architectural glass screens to be installed inside two large window recesses in the reception of a new office development by the Mercers’ Company at 4a Frederick’s Place, The Whittington Building, in the City of London.

Petri Anderson: Woodland scenes

8 April 2023 – 1 September 2023

A series of dramatic woodland vistas inspired by the woodland habits of Petri Anderson’s Finnish roots and local English woodlands nearby his current home in the Chiltern Hills. These woodland scenes are punctuated by vivid depictions of animals, some of which are native - the badger, deer, squirrel and owl, and others more exotic and even mythical – the lynx, lion, and unicorn. These juxtapositions create scenes with natural imagery that is simultaneously familiar and out of place. Many of these panels have an added political dimension with animals symbolising seismic changes in nation and state, shifts in leadership and power, as well as the global impact of climate change.

Petri Anderson AMGP studied restoration glass painting at Chapel Studio in Hertfordshire. In 2005 he established his own studio, Mongoose Stained Glass, and undertakes domestic and ecclesiastical commissions as well as restoration work. Anderson's work can be seen across the country in parish churches, cathedrals, private homes, schools, colleges and city livery companies. Liturgical projects include the Pat Salvage memorial window for St. Nicholas Church in Kelvedon Hatch, which received a diocesan award for design, and three windows for St. Andrews Church, Hyde Heath. In recent years his portfolio has taken on a new dimension with work in Japan, Central Asia, Finland and the Caribbean. Petri is an Associate member of the British Society of Master Glass Painters (BSMGP).

Detail, St Etheldreda, Arthur L. Moore (c.1875), from St Etheldreda’s Church, Coldham (ELYGM:2001.4)

St Etheldreda

1 February. 2023 - 8 April 2023

A temporary exhibition of a stained glass panel depicting Etheldreda from the museum’s reserve collection, and originally from the now redundant Church dedicated to St Etheldreda in Coldham, Cambridgeshire.

This display is part of the St Etheldreda 1350 celebrations taking place in Ely during 2023. The 1350th Anniversary celebrates the founding of a Double Monastery, for both Monks and Nuns, by Saint Etheldreda. This monastery would develop as a place of Christian Worship and pilgrimage, becoming the site of Ely Cathedral.

2022

Explore the Collection Store: A Focus on Fabric

February 2022 – February 2023

This exhibition highlights pieces not usually on display from the museums collection store. Like many museums, The Stained Glass Museum can only display a small selection from its collection at one time. With over 2000 objects in our collection, we try to showcase examples through temporary exhibitions, such as this one, throughout the year.

This exhibition features examples acquired by the museum over the last few years, with a particular focus on the beautiful fabrics depicted within the windows.

From fine lace and beautiful rich colours to the more utilitarian - the clothing worn by the people depicted in the panels help us to identify them. The fabric chosen often tells us about their status or role too.

Both secular and religious examples are on display with fabrics fit for both Kings and peasants alike.

The 50th Anniversary Stevens Architectural Glass Exhibition

1 July - 6 August 2022

These architectural glass panels were all submitted as competition entries for the 2021 Stevens Architectural Glass Competition, organised annually by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass’ (‘The Glaziers’ Company’). Open to international student glass artists and designers and those who have commenced their vocation in glass within the last eight years, the competition gives emerging stained glass artists an opportunity to compete for a real-life commission.
 
The 50th Anniversary Stevens 2022 Competition is to design a commemorative window for the Dunsden Parish Church which celebrates the life and work of the renowned First World War poet Wilfred Owen, who lived in the village from 1911 to 1913. The Competition was supported by the Dunsden Owen Association (DOA), which was formed to commemorate Owen’s links with the local area, and by the Shiplake with Dunsden Parochial Church Council (the PCC).

2021

British Society of Master Glass Painters Centenary Exhibition

17 September – 31 October 2021
Free entry to exhibition in South-West Transept, Ely Cathedral

The Stained Glass Museum was the first stop for this touring exhibition of stained glass panels to celebrate the Centenary of the British Society of Master Glass Painters (BSMGP), founded in 1921. Members of the society were asked to create a new exhibition panel measuring 30cm x 30cm on any theme of their choice. Over 80 artists from across the UK and overseas contributed to the exhibition. This collection of artworks, created especially for their centenary year, celebrated the unique art of glass and demonstrated the range of traditional and modern glass techniques practised today. The artists explored a variety of subjects with a few recurring themes, such as the environment, the pandemic and the beauty of nature providing an insight into the concerns of glass artists a hundred years after the British Society of Master Glass Painters was established in 1921.

All the panels submitted to the Centenary Exhibition can be seen online via the BSMGP's Virtual Gallery

2020

Tinker, Tailor... new works by Rachel Milligan inspired by covid-19

December 2020 - 25 August 2021

This series of work by stained glass artist Rachel Mulligan was inspired by the old fortune-telling rhyme Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man or thief?

During the first UK covid lockdown in 2020 Rachel was reminded of two sketches she had made almost 20 years ago of stained glass panels illustrating Tailor and Soldier. She posted the sketches on Instagram and discovered they were made in the 1930s by Charles Paine and Daisy Luther and that panels illustrating Tinker and Sailor also existed. While sketching them Rachel began thinking about how the theme could be retold with a contemporary twist to reflect the tremendous effort of the community during the Covid crisis. From the building of the Nightingale hospitals to the cleaners in care homes, and from Thursday night clapping to supporting those people who suddenly had no income, the eight stained glass panels reflect daily life in 2020 during the covid-19 pandemic.

Stevens Architectural Glass Exhibition

10 October 2020 - 28 November 2020

These architectural glass panels were all submitted as competition entries for the 2020 Stevens Architectural Glass Competition, organised annually by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass’ (‘The Glaziers’ Company’). Open to international student glass artists and designers and those who have commenced their vocation in glass within the last eight years, the competition gives emerging stained glass artists an opportunity to compete for a real-life commission.
 
The 2020 competition was to design an Illuminated Panel (1980mm wide by 1000mm high) for the Main Reception Area of the John Morden Centre, a new facility for residents of Morden College, Blackheath, London. Morden College was founded by Sir John Morden, a prosperous merchant and philanthropist, in 1695 for poor Merchants who had lost their Estates. Today the college provides accommodation, medical facilities, dining room and a library for some 360 residents who have had connections with the City of London during their careers.
 
Some of the full-scale sample glass panels submitted for the competition, made by artists from across the UK and Europe, are featured in this exhibition. Each panel shows a section of the overall window, giving an impression of the artist’s individual response to the commission. Entries were judged anonymously by a panel of judges.

Where the Buffalo Roam Exhibition 2019-20

'Where the Buffalo Roam': Stained Glass from the American Frontier

12 September 2019 - September 2020

Where the Buffalo Roam: Stained Glass from the American Frontier, was a photo exhibit by award-winning photojournalist M.J. Alexander, reflecting the tumultuous history of the region, as memorialized in the windows of its churches and chapels.

For centuries, the North American Plains were home to indigenous tribes that travelled with the seasons and the bison herds. The frontier was largely unsettled, and unexplored by outsiders. In 1803, rights to the vast lands between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River were acquired from France by the newly formed United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

The area north of Texas and south of Kansas was reserved as Indian Territory. Beginning in the 1830s, under treaties that made way for white settlers, the region was designated as a new homeland for Native Americans. Tribes from the Southeast were forcibly marched there from their ancestral homes on routes that became known as The Trail of Tears.

After 50 years of relocations and the establishment of sovereign Indian Nations, the territory was opened to Land Runs for non-Natives beginning in 1889. The population would soon surpass 1 million, and the territory joined the Union in 1907. It became the 46th state under the name of Oklahoma, from the Choctaw words for “red people.”

In the wake of statehood, several churches commissioned stained glass windows with portrayals of Native Americans, fat bison, rich crops and tall oil wells. In the years to come, new windows would commemorate the introduction of Christianity by 19th century missionaries; negotiations between tribal chiefs and wily top-hatted, treaty-wielding federal agents; streams of settlers in covered wagons in an exodus to the promised land; and tributes to Native and Oklahoma-born martyrs and saints.

Where the Buffalo Roam examines windows from European and American glassmakers, offering a variety of artistic styles and vantage points. The exhibition is in the museum main gallery and is free with usual paying admission.

M.J. Alexander chronicles the people and places of the Great Plains and American West. Her work has been published by The New York Times and Time magazine, and featured in more than two dozen solo shows, including a 2018 European debut at London’s Crypt Gallery. A veteran journalist, playwright, librettist and lyricist, she is author and illustrator of two award-winning books of fine-art portraiture. The International Photography Hall of Fame describes her as “combining the vision of an artist with the skills of a storyteller.” She was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2019.

2019

SGM40

‘SGM40’: Celebrating 40 years of the Stained Glass Museum

29 March - 26 September 2019

This temporary exhibition shows the story of The Stained Glass museum’s development over 40 years, from the year the museum first opened to the public in 1979 to now. It explores the origins of the museum as a Repository for rescued stained glass and the development of the collection.

The exhibition coincided with the museum's 40th birthday and a visit from our Royal Patron HRH The Prince of Wales.

Stevens Competition 2019

Exhibition of architectural glass featuring selected entries from the 2019 Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass' Stevens Architectural Glass Competition

June 2019 - July 2019

This temporary exhibition features some of the competition entries for the prestigious Stevens Architectural Glass exhibition, an annual competition run by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters on Glass. The 2019 competition, which relates to a real-life commission, invites entrants to design a window for the waiting area of a new Proton Beam Therapy (“PBT”) unit at University College London Hospital. This new unit will extend and broaden the Hospital’s cancer services. Proton Beam Therapy is a type of radiotherapy which uses a high-energy beam of particles to destroy cancer cells. The treatment is particularly suitable for complex childhood cancers, increasing success rates and reducing side-effects such as deafness, loss of IQ and secondary cancers. It can also be used to treat brain cancer, head and neck cancer and sarcomas. There are currently no other high-energy PBT facilities in England and patients requiring the treatment have to be sent abroad.

UCLH NHS Foundation Trust has a rich tradition of working with glaziers to create artwork for the hospital. In 2005 UCLH partnered with the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and the Stevens Competition to create a new window for the Radiotherapy Department. The winning entry, “Sundance”, demonstrated an innovative technique using UV bonding technology and UCLH commissioned the artist Alex R to make her design into a full size panel. The 2008 competition featured the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Antenatal Clinic. The design entitled “Circles and Rainbows” on screen printed enamelled glass, with bonded and 6 sandblasted glass, submitted by Michelle Dawson, was selected for the commission. The UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre was the site for the 2011 competition. The entry on glass and dichroic film entitled “Starlings” resulted in a commission for the artist, Matt Hayes.

2018

The Seven Ages of Man

Contemporary glass by Rachel Mulligan

July 2018 - March 2019

The Seven Ages of Man illustrate seven stages of life, from infancy to death. Inspired by the words of Shakespeare, the artist Rachel Mulligan made these panels as a personal tribute to her father, Jim Mulligan. His life is seen unfolding through the frame of a grapevine, each scenes is linked to a changing season.

Rachel Mulligan studied Fine Art at Coventry, and specialised in printmaking, particularly etchings and later, linocuts. Having graduated in 1987 she initially set up as a printmaker, but when she discovered stained glass in an evening class a couple of years later she was instantly enthralled. By the age of 30, she had obtained a Post Graduate in stained glass from Central St Martins, and an M.A. in Public Art from Chelsea. Rachel set up her first stained glass studio with help from the Princes Youth Business Trust in 1995. Almost immediately she received her first major commission for a school in Sunderland, and has worked on a number of commissions ever since.

Then to Now: Recent Contemporary glass art

28 October - 30 November 2018

The Stained Glass Museum has hosted a program of workshops for adults and children for over a decade. We have encouraged and inspired hundreds of people to come and learn both the traditional and contemporary styles of stained glass making, from our group of wonderful tutors.

Over the years, many of our pupils return to try more of our workshops, and many children return each school holiday to try their hand at a new design or technique. Pupils are free to create any design they choose, though the tutors are always on hand to advise and assist, which means we’re yet to find a pupil who’s run out of new ideas!

Following workshops here at the museum, some people have even gone on to produce their own artwork professionally, in their chosen preferred form of stained glass.

This exhibition highlights three such talented artists and former pupils, Sarah Hunt, Michelle Mativi and Jennifer Hackett.

Stevens Competition 2018

Exhibition of architectural glass featuring selected entries from the 2018 Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass' Stevens Architectural Glass Competition

June - July 2018

This exhibition of contemporary stained glass panels showcases the work of emerging stained glass artists. The panels were all designed and made as competition entries for the 2018 Stevens Architectural Glass Competition, organised annually by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass’. The Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass (‘The Glaziers’ Company’) has been running the prestigious annual Stevens Architectural Glass Competition since 1972. It is open to student glass artists and designers and those who have commenced their vocation in glass within the last eight years.

The 2018 ’s competition was for the design of two windows for a new dance studio at Eastbourne College in East Sussex. The new dance studio is being built as part of ‘Project 150’, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the College. The competition for the design of two architectural glass windows was sponsored by the ‘Arnold Embellishers’, a voluntary society whose purpose is to beautify and embellish the College. All entrants were asked to submit a coloured design of the overall scheme for the two windows, together with an artistic description, technical statement, and budget estimate, and to make a full sample panel showing a section of the overall design. Several of the sample glass panels made for the competition by artists from all over the UK featured in this exhibition on display at The Stained Glass Museum, home to a national collection of stained glass windows from across Britain and Europe.

2017

Joseph Nuttgens: An exhibition of stained glass and prints

April - June 2017

After completing his studies at the Central School of Art and the Royal College of Art in 1964, Joseph Nuttgens worked experimentally with expanded plastics and metal sheet, to create ‘light’ sculptures, incorporating steel sheet and coloured glass, transmitting colour from hidden light sources. In 1978 he was encouraged by Patrick Reyntiens to return to stained glass, a medium that he had grown up with. On the death of his father, stained glass artist J.E. Nuttgens, in 1982 he re-established the stained glass studio and, since then, has designed and made stained glass windows for cathedrals, churches and many other venues. Throughout this time he has maintained an output of painting and, in recent years, has set up a relief print shop within his studio, producing woodcuts and linocuts.

2016

Geoffrey Clarke: A new spirit in stained glass

May 2016 - August 2017

A celebration of the Museum's four newly acquired and recently conserved modern stained glass panels by Geoffrey Clarke (1924-2014), accompanied by photographs, sketch designs and information about the conservation of the panels.

Geoffrey Clarke was a pioneering British artist who represented a 'new spirit in stained glass' in the second-half of the twentieth century. His experimentation with modern materials and processes breathed new life into the traditional artistic media in which he worked, which encompassed stained glass, sculpture and printmaking.

Exhibition Guide: Geoffrey Clarke: A new spirit in stained glass (The Stained Glass Museum, 2016. Text by J. Allen)

Frans Wesselman

July 2016 - September 2016

Frans Wesselman is a painter, etcher and stained glass artist. He initially trained to be an art teacher and studied printmaking and photography at Art College in the Netherlands, before moving to Ireland and then London. He is a member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers.

Wesselman first began making stained glass just before the Millennium after a visit to Salisbury Cathedral, where he saw Gabriel Loire's Prisoner of Conscience window, which left a great impression. He found the process of making stained glass panels not too dissimilar to printmaking, as both require thinking in layers.

Much of Wesselmann's artwork has a strong sense of narrative and combines biographical experiences with studies from natural life as well as popular religious and historical themes.

Paradise and Other Places

Images inspired by the divine and the everyday by Mick Abbott

June 2016 - July 2016

An exhibition of large-scale drawings and paintings have been inspired by the heavenly splendour of Ely Cathedral’s architecture and artworks found in the building as well as the collection of the Stained Glass Museum.

Combining architectural and decorative features around the building with religious themes and contemporary portraits of local people, Mick Abbott's artwork connects the past and the present, the human and the divine. From the hidden carved medieval misericords which provide a whimsical complement and sometimes irreverent contrast to the vibrant beauty of the colourful images and patterns and images present in its stained glass windows. Paradise and Other Places was mounted in the south-west transept, Ely Cathedral.

Juliet Forrest: 'This Other Eden'

May 2016 - June 2016

An exhibition of landscape work in both acrylic painting and stained glass by Sheffield-based self-taught multimedia artist Juliet Forrest. Juliet's paintings are created using acrylics and mixed media, with the spotlight primarily on landscapes and gardens, adding deep layers of paint to create a rich finish. She loves to exaggerate colours and textures, bringing attention to details such as lichen on rocks or convoluted heather stems

2015

TP10YRS

November 2015 - January 2016

TP10YRS was a celebration of the 10th anniversary of 'Teepee glass', a collective of glass artists who originally met at Central Saint Martins in 2005 and formed 'Teepee glass' after spending ten nights under canvas at the Glass Biennale at Stourbridge. The group take their inspiration from people, the beauty of nature, living in the city, optical illusions, playing with light and form, and being led by the glass material. Their works range from jewellery to windows to installations, which display their diverse glass skills and craftsmanship.

Fen Landscapes in Glass

June - July 2015

To celebrate the Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership's OuseFest this exhibition of Fen landscapes in glass by local artist and illustrator Althea Braithwaite who has always been fascinated by "the beautifully coloured shadows which light makes as it shines through glass and the wide land and skyscapes of the fens".

'Harmony': Dylan Thomas International Glass Award

March - June 2015

Touring exhibition of contemporary glass panels inspired by the poetry of Dylan Thomas. Organised and curated by the University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD), supported by the British Society of Master Glass Painters (BSMGP).

The exhibition featured 19 panels by contemporary artists inspired by the word 'Harmony' or Dylan Thomas' wider poetic works. The exhibition celebrated the centenerary of Dylan Thomas' birth.

2014

Leach & Sons: A Cambridge Stained Glass and Decorating Firm

October 2014 - July 2015

An exhibition of stained glass fragments and panels from this Cambridge studio of artist-decorators. Many medieval fragments, from the 12th to the 15th centuries, can be seen, as well as modern work by the firm.

From the 18th century the Leach family worked as cooks and landlords in the colleges and inns of Cambridge. Later generations of the family took up the paintbrush and chisel. They became master painters, church decorators, stone carvers, cabinet makers and artists in stained glass, as well as house builders, jobbing painters and sign writers.

The Stained Glass Museum has a collection of leaded panels of assorted medieval fragments rescued from the former Leach studio in Cambridge before it was demolished. The fragments were probably removed from various locations by Leach & Sons during restoration work, which they undertook alongside making new windows.

Leonard Walker (1877-1964): A Glass World

2014

Experience the glass world of Leonard Walker (1877-1964), a well-known painter and stained glass designer whose studio was based in Hampstead. A member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colour, Leonard Walker was an established artist who regularly exhibited his designs for stained glass in the Architecture Room at the Royal Academy.

This temporary exhibition featured several stained glass designs by Walker and photographs of the artist at work, alongside two stained glass panels by Walker in the main gallery. It examined Walker's distinctive style, his unique approach to the glass materials, and his skills as a watercolourist.

Exhibition Guide: Leonard Walker (1877-1964): A Glass World (The Stained Glass Museum, 2014. Text by H. O. Gould and J. Allen)

2013

Painted Faces

1 August - 29 September 2013

An exhibition of painted heads and faces on glass, from the medieval period to the present day. Highlighting panels from the Museum’s reserve collection.

Focusing on the most important details in figurative glass provides us with an opportunity to appreciate the most skilful process in making stained glass - painting onto the glass surface. This exhibition showcased a variety of panels which demonstrate the glass painters technique and the use of glass pigment (grisaille), silver stain, and enamel.

Francis Spear

April - July 2013

A chance to see designs, cartoons and stained glass panels by eminent twentieth-century stained glass artist Francis Spear (1902-79). Spear trained at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and Royal College of Art (RCA) in the 1920s. He returned to the RCA to teach and had a long career both as stained glass teacher and artist, spanning the period 1925 to 1970.

This temporary exhibition provided a chance to see four stained glass panels by Francis Spear (three of which were newly acquired by The Stained Glass Museum) alongside original cartoons and his Passion Prints (1970-72). Spear's career reveals much about the artistic training, working methods, challenges and expectations of 20th century British stained glass artists working both before and after the Second World War.

Piecing together the Pollen roundel

March - April 2013

An exhibition revealing the architectural context of the rose window designed by John Hungerford Pollen for the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Rhyl, North Wales, which was demolished in 1976.

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was built in 1863 for a growing Catholic community in Rhyl, North Wales. Pollen was the architect of the church, as well as the designer of the internal decoration and fittings of the building. Pollen designed relatively little stained glass, but this rose or wheel window was installed at the west end of the church. It depicts the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in the centre, surrounded by angels.