WHAT'S ON AT THE MUSEUM

Event category: Exhibition

Price: Free
Location: The Stained Glass Museum
William Morris described the two leading passions of his life as the desire to create ‘beautiful things’ and a ‘hatred of modern civilisation’. As well as being an artist and designer Morris was also a writer, activist and poet. He was in every way a radical of his time, in both thought and action.

Organised by the British Society of Master Glass Painters (BMSGP), this exhibition invited members to make a 30cm square glass panel in response to the theme ‘Inspired by William Morris’ for an online and touring exhibition. Open to professionals, enthusiasts and novices alike, more than 90 submissions were received.

An online gallery with all submissions for the exhibition can be found Here

The touring exhibition opens in Stourbridge at the International Festival of Glass from 23-26 August. It is then on display at The Stained Glass Museum in Ely from 28 August - 31 October, and then in Rochdale Town Hall until the end of 2024.


Contact: 01353 660347

Event category: Family Activity

Price: £3 per child
Location: The Stained Glass Museum
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Come and join us for the first Wednesday of the month for informal fun in our beautiful setting. Enjoy crafts, rhymes and stories linked to the theme. Explore our light box and interactive toys and meet new friends, all whilst relaxing with a drink and a biscuit.
Story time will be under one of our beautiful stained glass windows.
The session takes place in the museum gallery which is accessed via a stone spiral staircase of approximately 40 steps. Buggy park and toilet facilities available on the ground floor of the Cathedral.

Attendance is limited to one child/one adult per ticket.

Session times: 10:00-11:30
£3.00 per child which includes all craft materials and a drink and biscuit.
Suitable for ages: Under 5's
Contact: learning@stainedglassmuseum.com
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Event category: Talk /Tour

Price: £6.50 (Friends: £5)
Location: Online
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Scotland as a nation has a dramatic history; the history of its stained glass is no less dramatic. The Protestant Reformation led to the destruction of virtually all of Scotland’s stained-glass windows, and the traditions and craft knowledge of stained-glass production fell into decay until the 19th century.

One of the most important figures in the Scottish revival of stained-glass design was the Aberdonian, Douglas Strachan who produced over 350 windows throughout Britain and beyond. His work, which spanned the first half of the twentieth century, continues to inspire and influence designers.

Strachan’s approach to, and innovative use of, glass including early schemes for the Peace windows (1913) in The Hague, Netherlands and Lowson Memorial Kirk (1914) in Forfar, and later work such as the windows in the Shrine at the Scottish National War Memorial (1924-27), Edinburgh and the 1931 East Window, Paisley Abbey, will be discussed.

Dr Juliette MacDonald received her PhD from the University of St Andrews in 2003. She holds the Chair for Craft History and Theory at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests focus on craft, design and material culture and their relationship with creativity, place and identity. She co-organised Identity, Collaboration, Sustainability; an online International Festival of Craft, 2021, is co-editor of Styling Shanghai, Christopher Breward and Juliette MacDonald, (eds) Bloomsbury, 2019, and has contributed chapters, articles and reviews to various Journals and books including: Craft and Heritage, Intersections in Critical Studies and Practice, Susan Surette and Elaine Cheasley Paterson, 2022, In 2020 she received the Hongqiao Friendship Award, in recognition of her role as an envoy for transnational education in Shanghai.

This talk will be delivered by Zoom. The link will be emailed to ticket holders prior to the event.
Contact: events@stainedglassmuseum.com
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Event category: Talk /Tour

Price: £6.50 (Friends: £5)
Location: Online
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In this talk, Grace will take you on a journey charting her career so far, from her starting point as a sculptor, through her work as a conservator, to her work as a stained glass artist. Using past projects and commissions, she will explore the techniques and approaches she has used, her influences and inspirations, and ideas about the tradition and craft of stained glass.

Grace Ayson is a stained glass artist, designer and conservator based on the Kent coast in the UK. Her work combines striking modern draughtsmanship with traditional craft and technique. She has worked as an artist for many years, creating drawings concerned with light and its effects on architectural spaces. This interest in the living, moving effects of light and its impact on the viewer has found its ultimate expression in her work as a glass artist. Grace graduated with a fine art and sculpture degree in 1997, she then went on to work in sculpture and historic building and decorative surface conservation which eventually led her to a passion in stained glass. She has worked with stained glass for 20 years, including 15 years at The Cathedral Studios at Canterbury Cathedral, and set up her own studio in 2020. She creates windows and artworks for homeowners, interior designers, churches, public buildings and artworks for exhibition, combining a fresh modern approach with traditional techniques.

Grace’s work is informed by her background as an artist, making use of light, shadow, colour, mark making, surface texture, line and bold imagery to create striking modern designs. Using traditional skills of painting, etching and staining glass, she layers and combines abstract and graphic elements, translating the drawn image into glass to create artworks that grow beyond their roots in traditional craft and technique.

This talk will be delivered by Zoom. The link will be emailed to ticket holders prior to the event.
Contact: events@stainedglassmuseum.com
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Event category: Talk /Tour

Price: £6.50 (Friends: £5)
Location: Online
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Christopher Webb's reputation as a stained glass designer and artist was at its height in the decades immediately before (the 1930s) and after (1946 to 1955) the Second World War; and during his active career from 1920 to 1964 he produced over 400 windows with a distinctive character and style, as well as designing a wide selection of other church art. Now that his work has been comprehensively listed, and a large collection of design sketches, full-size cartoons and other material given to the Stained Glass Museum, it is timely to reassess his work and its contribution to English stained glass in the 20th century.

Canon John Edwards is a retired Anglican priest in the Diocese of Oxford. Since 2015 he has been researching Webb's work and his circle of friends, collaborators and fellow artists, and has lectured and written extensively about them.

This talk will be delivered by Zoom. The link will be emailed to ticket holders prior to the event.
Contact: events@stainedglassmuseum.com
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