News

Heritage Lottery Funding Success for the Stained Glass Museum and All Saints North Street, York

The national significance of two stained glass institutions has been recognised in recent grants by the National Lottery.

Fig. 1. Virgin from the Annunciation, from the church of St John the Baptist, Hadzor (Worcs), now at the Stained Glass Museum.

Fig. 1. Virgin from the Annunciation, from the church of St John the Baptist, Hadzor (Worcs), now at the Stained Glass Museum.

In Ely, the Stained Glass Museum, the only museum dedicated to stained glass in the UK, has received a grant of £88,000 from the HLF Resilient Heritage scheme to help it form a future plan for the Museum. The Project ‘Windows onto the future’ will investigate options and produce a masterplan for the museum’s future development. The project has been made possible by money raised by National Lottery players and will begin in April 2018. For more information see the Museum’s full press release at www.stainedglassmuseum.com/news.html.

Fig. 2. Detail from the exceptional ‘Pricke of Conscience’ window, showing the death of all living things, at All Saints North Street.

Fig. 2. Detail from the exceptional ‘Pricke of Conscience’ window, showing the death of all living things, at All Saints North Street.

In York, All Saints church on North Street, has been awarded more than £99,000 to kickstart the preservation and restoration of its spectacular collection of stained glass windows. Dating largely from the first half of the fifteenth century, the All Saints glazing numbers among the finest monuments in city of exceptional medieval stained glass. Ultimately, the church is seeking to raise more than £500,000 to undertake a comprehensive restoration and preservation programme, but will use this initial round of funding to install isothermal glazing to protect the medieval glazing. The All Saints website contains a range of images of and information that provide a glimpse of the kind of glass to be found at the church.

British Archaeological Association Annual Conference 2018: Cambridge: College, Church and City

Saturday, 1st September to Wednesday, 5th September

This September, for the first time in 105 years, the British Archaeological Association will gather in Cambridge to celebrate, explore and debate the city’s medieval artistic, architectural and archaeological wealth. In addition to its famous university, the city was an important civic centre with thriving guilds and internationally renowned fairs and mar-kets. Kings, queens, bishops and fraternities founded colleges and attended its churches. Its many parish churches and thriving monastic and mendicant centres stimulated advances not only in medieval architecture but in the visual arts too – sculpture, manuscript illustration and stained glass. It was also an early centre of antiquarianism and the conference takes place 140 years after Willis and Clark’s magisterial architectural history of the university.

Fig. 1. View of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, prior to the works on the gate house of the 1820s.

Fig. 1. View of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, prior to the works on the gate house of the 1820s.

Lectures will cover topics on the art, architecture and archaeology of medieval Cambridge and the surrounding area, including papers on priories, hospitals, colleges and parish churches in and around Cambridge, early sculpture, stained glass and wall paintings, manuscript illuminations, seals, coins and nineteenth-century antiquarianism. Speakers include Meg Bernstein, Paul Binski, Alexandrina Buchanan, Spike Bucklow, Andrew Budge, James A. Cameron, Craig Cessford, Paul Everson, Jill Franklin, Anna Gannon, John Goodall, Anya Heilpern, Catherine Hundley, Arnold Klukas, John Lee, Richard Marks, Michael A. Michael, David Park, Nicholas Rogers, Miri Rubin, David Stocker, Frank Woodman, and Lucy Wrapson.

The conference will be based at Sidney Sussex College. In Cambridge there will be site visits to King’s College, Great St Mary’s, and Jesus College; walking tours exploring south and north Cambridge will include St Benet’s, Corpus Christi Old Court, Gonville and Caius College, Little St Mary’s, Queens’ College, St Michael’s, Trinity College, The Round Church, and St John’s College. A coach excursion outside Cambridge will encompass Great Paxton, Madingley Hall, Ickleton, Whittlesford, Duxford St John’s and Hadstock.

Booking is now open, and the conference is strictly limited to 100 attendees, so early booking is encouraged. A number of student scholarships covering conference fees and accommodation are available, and applications should be received before 25 May 2018.

For further details relating to the conference, including booking and information about student scholarships, please see the BAA website. For all enquiries, please contact the Hon. Conference Secretary at conference@thebaa.org.

The Burrell Collection Database

Fig. 1. Hawker on Horseback, early 16th century, Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944, now in the Burrell Collection.

Fig. 1. Hawker on Horseback, early 16th century, Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944, now in the Burrell Collection.

The Burrell Collection is undergoing an ambitious refurbishment, which will upgrade the building into an energy efficient, modern museum. In addition to the existing galleries, two new floors of exhibition space will be created, and the museum’s stores will open to visitors for the first time. The redisplay of the Collection will provide a far richer interpretation of the artworks, greatly increasing access to the 9,000 objects within the Collection, and wonderfully there will be three major spaces devoted to glass.

Recently Glasgow Museums has recently launched a new Object Database: Collections Navigator, featuring new photographs of over 800 pieces of glass from William Burrell’s Collection, taken as part of the redevelopment.

Readers are invited to revisit the holdings and to support the redevelopment by sharing any new thoughts on the material. The database is a work in progress, with the records reflecting the state of knowledge of the 1960s publications, and staff are endeavouring to transfer all of the information from the museum’s paper documentation to it in advance of the reopening in 2020.

To use the database:

Step 1:

Go to: http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/mwebcgi/mweb?request=advform

Or search: “Glasgow Museums Collections Navigator”, and select “Advanced Search”

Step 2:

Select “Burrell Collection: Stained Glass” from the drop-down menu “Named Collection”

Step 3:

Hit “Search” – this will return 802 records.

To get in touch:

rachel.king@glasgowlife.org.uk

Icon Stained Glass Group Conference: Booking now open

Booking is now open for the ICON Stained Glass Group conference, which will be held on Tuesday 8 May 2018 at Glaziers Hall, London.

Papers on the theme of ‘Conservation, Communication, and Collaboration’ have been drawn from a wide international stained glass community (see conference programme). This one-day conference will be based at Glaziers Hall, the central London home of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers.

It offers a chance to hear formal presentations on a diverse range of national and international topics, as well as provides a chance to explore both the newly refurbished Glaziers Hall – including Sir John Rennie’s newly exposed and restored original London Bridge arches – and see the varied stained glass in Southwark Cathedral opposite.

Tickets are priced at £60 for ICON members, £80 for non-members and £40 for students and apprentices.  See the eventbrite page for booking and more information.

 

 

 

Study Day: Stained Glass in Huntingdonshire

Friday, 8th June 2018

Departing Ely Cathedral 10.30am, arriving back by 5.30pm

This coach tour will be guided by Reverend Stephen Day (author of Stained Glass in Hun-tingdonshire), and visits will include Wistow, with its 15th century glass depicting the An-nunciation; the 19th-century glass at Huntingdon; Great Stukeley for an opportunity to see Don Drury’s glazing; the glass at Houghton by Harcourt Medhurst Doyle and Alf Fisher; and the medieval chapel bridge and parish church at St Ives. Tickets cost £30 for the day (lunch is not included), and are available on the Stained Glass Museum’s website.

 

Celebration Event for Keith New monograph

Fig. 1. The book cover.

Fig. 1. The book cover.

An event to celebrate the recently published monograph about Keith New, a modernist stained glass artist, will be hosted by the authors Diana Coulter and Robert Smith and their publisher, Sansom & Co, on Tuesday 24 April 2018 in Bristol Cathedral at 3pm.

All are welcome to attend; please meet near the east window of the South Choir Aisle where the authors will introduce the work of Keith New and his windows in the Cathedral.

Tea and cake will be served in the Chapter House, where you can chat with the authors, the artist’s daughters and purchase signed copies of the book at the special rate of £22.50.

After the celebration guests are welcome to attend Evensong in the Cathedral.

RSVP by Friday 20 April 2018 to diana.coulter@mac.com.

Last chance to book: The Stained Glass Museum Study Weekend 2018: Suffolk

Thursday, 19th April – Sunday, 22nd April 2018

Based in the historic market town of Bury St Edmunds, former home to one of the rich-est Benedictine abbeys in medieval England, the weekend will include tours of a number of churches and other buildings featuring stained glass in situ.

Visits will include: St Edmundsbury Cathedral, the parish churches of St Mary and St John, and Council Offices, all in Bury St Edmunds. In addition, there will be visits to see medieval stained glass at Long Melford, Risby, Gipping and Hessett, an important col-lection of 16th and 17th century roundels at Nowton; 17th century heraldic glass at Clare, and High Victorian glass at Sudbury and Lavenham. There will also be opportuni-ties to see some beautiful early Henry Holiday glass at Shimpling and fine Arts and Crafts stained glass at Horringer and Herringswell. For more information and booking forms, please see the museum’s website.

Reminder: The Stained Glass Museum Annual Lecture 2018: Exhibiting Stained Glass in 19th Century London and Paris

Wednesday, 9th May, 6.30pm for 6.45pm

Ely Cathedral, South Transept

Travel back in time with the Stained Glass Museum’s Curator, Dr Jasmine Allen, to explore the fascinating, and often surprising, displays of stained glass at International Exhibitions in the 19th century. From London’s Crystal Palace to the grand displays along the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Dr Allen will reveal a number of ordinary and spectacular stained glass windows which impressed visitors from across the world. She will also discuss about the challenges which these unique environments presented to artists and studios who exhibited stained glass at these events, and the ways in which they have influenced modern museum displays.

This lecture celebrates the publication of Windows for the world: Nineteenth-century stained glass and the international exhibitions, 1851-1900 (Manchester University Press, 2018).

The lecture is open to all. Tickets cost £7.50 (£6.00 to Friends of the Stained Glass Museum and of Ely Cathedral), and can be purchased through the Museum’s website.

The Stained Glass Museum: Stained Glass Workshops 2018

Over the coming months, the Stained Glass Museum will run a series of specialist, hands-on workshops, focusing on various aspects of stained glass design and manufac-ture. The workshops are run by professional artists and craftsmen, and are suitable for individuals with widely ranging abilities and experience. All take place in Ely, and fees are inclusive of all materials, equipment and tuition. Workshops frequently become sold out early.

Saturday 14th April 10am-4pm, £90 – Coloured Glass Fusing Full Day
Saturday 26th May 10am-4pm, £90 – Metal & Glass Fusing Full Day
Friday 1st June 1:30pm – 4pm, £45 – Metal & Glass Fusing Half Day
Friday 6th July 1:30pm – 4pm, £45- Metal & Glass Fusing Half Day
Saturday 28th July 1:30pm – 4pm, £45 – Coloured Glass Fusing Half Day
Saturday 11th August 10am – 4pm, £90 – Coloured Glass Fusing Full Day
Friday 28th September 1:30pm – 4pm, £45 – Metal & Glass Fusing Half Day
Saturday 13th October 10am – 4pm, £90 – Coloured Glass Fusing Full Day
Saturday 3rd November 10am – 5pm, £90 – Glass Painting
Friday 23rd November 10am-4pm, £90 – Metal & Glass Fusing Full Day

For more information see: http://stainedglassmuseum.com/workshops.html

Family Fun Extravaganza at the Stained Glass Museum

Thursday, 31st May and Friday, 1st June 2018

This May half-term, the Stained Glass Museum will host two family-fun days, with hands-on demonstrations, tours, family activities, and other events. The museum’s usual admission fees apply.

Further details will be released soon on the museum’s website.

Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Parish Church Studies: History, Heritage and Fabric at the University of York

The University of York is now inviting applications for an innovative postgraduate-level diploma course. The only programme of its type, the PGDip in Parish Church Studies is an online programme which offers an unparalleled opportunity to gain detailed and practical knowledge of the history, art, use, care and conservation of the English parish church. The interdisciplinary nature of the diploma allows for the exploration and appreciation of the very complex relationships between setting, building and community from the Anglo-Saxon era to the modern day.

The online format offers students the opportunity to study in their own home, at their own pace, whilst also being extensively supported by an expert in the field and with the ability to participate in a lively yet scholarly online community.

There is also on offer a residential weekend which provides an opportunity to meet lecturers, network with fellow students, engage in study activities and hear experts talk. Career prospects for students cover a variety of sectors including history, heritage, the museums sector, the Church, teaching, public history, archives or Masters/doctoral level research.

Applications are now open for 2018 entry. For full details and how to apply please see the programme website. Or, if you would like a more detailed conversation, please email the Programme Leader, Dr Emma Wells, at emma.wells@york.ac.uk.