Lectures

The British Society of Master Glass Painters is fortunate to attract many eminent speakers on stained and architectural glass from amongst its UK and international membership and beyond. Subjects range from modern to mediaeval, brought to life by the enthusiasm and expertise of historians, conservators and contemporary practitioners.

Venue: The Art Workers Guild, Queen Square, London WC1 (Admission by ticket only)

Organizer: Helen Robinson

Further enquiries to: Lectures

Programme 2012

Download 2012 events information and booking forms (pdf format 150 kb)

Spring lecture
Friday 9 March - 6.15 for 6.45pm

Keith Barley FMGP - ‘Perhaps the finest specimens of pictorial glass-painting in the world’: the Herkenrode windows of Lichfield Cathedral’

So said Charles Winston, nineteenth century barrister and antiquarian, describing the magnificent collection of sixteenth century Flemish glass, created for the Abbey of Herkenrode in the 1530s and, since 1806, housed in the Lady Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral.  Five of the seven large windows depict scenes from the life of Jesus, from the Annunciation, through the Passion and the Resurrection to the Day of Judgement; the final two windows contain a collection of donor panels.  The windows show remarkable ‘Renaissance’ style painting effects, including heightened use of perspective and shadowing.  They are of international interest and importance, not least because they escaped the major restoration and repainting carried out on other Flemish glass of this period.  A description and history of the windows has appeared in the Journal of Stained Glass (volume XXXII, 2008) and a detailed study is being prepared jointly by the English and Belgian CVMA.
Although still remarkably complete, the glass has suffered over the centuries; in particular the internal face is heavily corroded in many areas, which has in turn caused the loss of painted detail.  This talk by Keith Barley will describe some of the techniques used in the creation of the windows, and those currently being used in their conservation at Barley Studio.

DISCUSSION DAY - Wednesday 9th May 10.00 - 4pm

‘Issues in professional practice and a discussion with Lamberts Glass’

Further information to follow shortly

Summer Lecture and Annual General Meeting
Friday 15 June - AGM 5.30pm, lecture 6.15 for 6.45pm

‘Swansea’s best kept secret’ – a presentation by the staff from the Swansea School of Glass, Swansea Metropolitan University.

The Swansea School of Glass has existed in various forms for over 75 years. What started as a single evening class in the 1930’s has grown and developed into a distinct School that offers several full and part-time courses.

As part of Swansea Metropolitan University, the School seeks to balance academic demands with those of what is still a very hands-on course. ‘But what do they really do there?' you may ask. ..This lecture seeks to give a ‘taste’ of what Swansea School is all about;  past , present and future.  You may be surprised.

Autumn Lecture
Friday 12 October - 6.15 for 6.45pm

Dr Douglas E Schoenherr - 'Two Burne-Jones Manuscripts: The Account Books and The Cartoon Book'

This lecture will celebrate the publication of my article, 'Edward Burne-Jones's Account Books with Morris & Company (1861-1900): An Annotated Edition,' in The Journal of Stained Glass (2011) dedicated entirely to him.   Far from being dry-as-dust, I will show that these Account Books (now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) must be the funniest ever in the history of book keeping.  The lecture will discuss the uniquely comic nature of the document as it pertains to the friendship between Burne-Jones and William Morris and will explore at some length the long-running and almost universally misunderstood complaint-in-jest that the artist was underpaid.  Although EBJ designed many different types of things for Morris & Co., stained glass was by far the largest by number and the lecture will centre on this aspect of his work.  The artist's surprisingly frank assessment of his design successes and failures will be examined in fascinating detail. 

The Cartoon Book is a manuscript from the archives of Morris & Co. (now in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California) that documents the first sale of nearly half of Burne-Jones's cartoons for stained glass between 1901 and 1904.  Who were these forty-one collectors and dealers who bought EBJ's cartoons at a time when such working drawings were not universally recognized as works of art?

Image;Burne-Jones, St Michael and the Dragon, stained-glass cartoon for tracery cinquefoil, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Geneseo, New York, entered in the Account Books on 20 September 1875 with the comment 'a most superb composition' and sold in the Cartoon Book on 4 April 1902 to the New York bookseller Alexander Denham & Co.

Retired Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings from the National Gallery of Canada, Dr Douglas E Schoenherr was a co-organizer of the exhibition 'The earthly Paradise: Arts and Crafts by William Morris and his Circle' from Canadian collections in 1993.  His focus of interest now is Edward Burne-Jones and specifically his designs for stained glass.

Lectures retrospective

2011

• Anna Eavis - 'An 18th-century recusant's collection; the windows of Milton Chapel, Oxfordshire'
• Chris Chesney - 'The wonderful worlds of Photoshop and Coral Draw'
• Pippa Martin - 'Lawrence Lee: master stained glass artist of the twentieth century'
• Mark Angus - 'Between Heavens: angels' journeys in glass'

2010

• Jo Nuttgens - 'A Working Argument: How I survived my father and became a stained glass artist'
• Glyn Davies - 'Leading and Light Boxes; Conserving the stained glass in the V&A's medieval and rennaissance galleries'
• Tom Denny - 'Recent windows in extraordinary buildings'

2009

• Roy Albutt - 'The Bromsgrove Guild'
• Andrew Rudebeck - 'On the trail of John Thornton'
• Leifur Breidfjord 'New Work'

2008

• David King - 'Personalities, Politics and Plays': The stained Glass of east Harling Church, Norfolk
• Ellen Mandelbaum - 'Light Listened', a review of the work of this contemporary glass artist.
• Geoffrey Robinson FMGP - 'Windows into the life of a Stained Glazier'

2007

• Kate Baden Fuller - 'Contemporary stained glass artists and how to write a book about them'
• Sarah Brown MA FSA Hon FMGP - The Judge, the traitor, his wife and her lover - the medieval glass of Tewkesbury Abbey'
• Doris Rollinson, Andrew Taylor and Caroline Swash '- 'Fifty Years of Glass - amongst other things'. A celebration of the life and work of John Hayward FMGP'

2006

• Tim Lewis – 'The importance of the teacher in stained glass'
• Ginger Ferrell – 'A new bag of tricks': the use of kiln formed glass in new work
• Dr David O'Connor – 'Mediaeval stained glass in Scandinavia: Gotland's gothic glass'
• Tony Benyon, Peter Cormack FSA and the Rt Revd Graeme Knowles AKC, MLC – 'Alan Younger, focus on an artist's life: three perspectives'
• Peter Gibson - 'The Christmas Story in Stained Glass'

2005

• Catrin Jones - ’20 years of practice’
• Caroline Swash – ‘Confessio. The thoughts and art of Johannes Schreiter’
• Julie Sloan MSc and Dr James Yarnall – ‘John La Farge’
• Dr Paul Binski – Canterbury Cathedral and the aesthetics of martyrdom’

2004

• Dr Michael Peover - 'Sleeping Beauty : unseen stained glass at the Soane Museum'
• Linda Lichtman – ‘Little and large: keeping the personal in public commissions'
• Ruth Taylor Jacobson – ‘Marc Chagall’

2003

• Dr Tim Ayers FSA – ‘Glazing the English Medieval cathedral:the East End of Wells c1320-1340’
• Graham Jones – his work in stained glass
• Dr Nicola Gordon Bowe – ‘The most exacting of masters, the most ruthless scrapper of imperfect heads: the art of Wilhelmina Geddes 1887–1955’