The Geoffrey Clarke Appeal
After launching an appeal in May 2013, the Stained Glass Museum has successfully raised £15,000 to purchase four unique modern stained-glass panels from the studio of Geoffrey Clarke, RA (b.1924).
Fig. 1. Geoffrey Clarke, Fragment, 1956?, Glass, lead, 91.4 x 73 x 15.2cm
The four panels, acquired by the Stained Glass Museum in January 2014, were made in the 1940s and 1950s as exhibition or experimental pieces. They demonstrate how Clarke combined stained glass, mosaic and sculptural techniques to produce unique works. St Anthony, St Sebastian and Priest (all made in 1949) are all modern abstract compositions inspired by religious devotion and torment. The fourth piece, Fragment (1956–59), pictured here, is an innovative three-dimensional panel that reveals Clarke’s interest in abstract sculptural forms.
Dr Jasmine Allen, curator of the museum, announced: ‘This is a major and exciting acquisition for the Stained Glass Museum, which recognizes the role that stained glass played in the development of British modernism. But the fundraising continues! Please help us to raise an additional £5,000 to fund the specialist conservation and display of these incredible artworks.’
Help get these panels on display!
Now that these artworks have been purchased, the Stained Glass Museum needs to raise a further £5,000 to fund conservation work and place the panels on display in the main gallery at the museum. You can donate to the appeal, and find out more, via the website.
The Stained Glass Museum is grateful to many individual donors and charitable bodies who contributed towards the purchase of these panels. These included The V&A Purchase Grant Fund, The Art Fund, The Headley Trust, The Matthew Wrightson Charitable Trust, and The Decorative Arts Society.
For more information, please contact Dr Jasmine Allen on 01353 660347 or curator@stainedglassmuseum.com
Hot Glass! London Day Trip
Wednesday 26 February 2014, 10.30 – 4pm
Visit to the London Glassblowing Studio and the Victoria & Albert Museum
Explore one of Europe’s leading glass-making studios and the stained-glass collection in the world’s first public museum devoted to the decorative arts. At the London Glassblowing Studio, established by Peter Layton in 1976, participants will gain a unique insight into the magical transformation of hot molten glass into unique free-blown artworks. The group will then travel by tube to the V&A Museum in South Kensington to meet Assistant Curator of Glass and Ceramics, Terry Bloxham, and be guided round the museum’s collection of stained glass, including the recently conserved and reinstalled William Bell Scott windows designed and made for the museum building in 1867–69.
There is a small cost for this day trip, but all proceeds will go to the following charities: Crisis, the V&A, and the Stained Glass Museum. Tickets are £15 per person (though this does not include the costs of lunch or travel). To book a place or find out more, email curator@stainedglassmuseum.com, or phone 01353 660347.
SGM Study Weekend
Tickets are still available for the Stained Glass Museum’s 2014 Study Weekend, which will be held on Thursday 24 – Sunday 27 April 2014. The weekend will take place in the south-west, where the group will be based in Salisbury visiting glass in Wiltshire, and the neighbouring counties of Hampshire and Gloucestershire.
Visits will include a number of sites with stained glass from the early medieval period to the 20th century. Highlights include the magnificent 12th- and 13th-century French stained glass at Wilton; 14th-century glass at Edington Priory; the magnificent 17th-century glass by Abraham van Linge at Lydiard Tregoze; and 19th- and 20th-century glass at Salisbury Cathedral. The group will also visit the Salisbury Cathedral Stained Glass Studio and enjoy a three-course dinner in the cathedral’s enchanting chapter house. The main guide will be Dr David O’Connor, a member of the British CVMA committee, who has published widely on medieval and Victorian stained glass.
Costs: residential £400 per person (three nights half board); non-residential £200 per person (including three evening meals); non-residential £100 per person (visits only). All prices include travel, audio headset, and a conference pack with site notes.
Accommodation: the Grasmere House Hotel, Salisbury, a fine Victorian house surrounded by mature gardens. Situated on the banks of the Rivers Avon and Nadder, the hotel is only a few minutes’ walk from the city centre and offers superb cathedral views.
Reservations: to reserve a place on the study weekend, please email curator@stainedglassmuseum.com, or telephone 01353 660347. A deposit of £150 per person is required by 1 February 2014, and full payment should be received by 1 April 2014. Please make cheques payable to ‘The Stained Glass Museum’.
