| John K. Clark - Glasspainter | Coatbridge Centenary Windows | ||||
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Title - The Coatbridge Centenary Windows Commissioned - Monklands District Completed - Oct 1985. The brief"the subject matter would be expected to reflect the activities of the district throughout the centuries.Emphasis should be placed on recent developments and the consequent changes in the character of industries and attitudes in the area".Also "it is preferred that they should be completely contemporary in design and treatment. Due to the nature and appearance of the Council Chamber, I decided that certain limitations would have to be placed on my approach to these windows. The room has an overall feeling of permanence and purpose which I carried through into the windows.
The ConceptTotal abstraction would have looked out of place in this environment, and unless it is very well designed, can very quickly date. I therefore decided on a figurative style showing recognisable images. The panels are designed using principles of cubism which is one of the most important movements in modern art and would have been unknown in the previous century. With this approach it is visually possible to place many images in varying scale, next to each other without them looking uneasy. Small compartments of space are created and into these, objects are placed.What I have set out to do in these windows is to produce a historical sequence of events depicted in stained glass thus repeating one of the original achievements of stained glass windows which portrayed their both in artistic style and imagery.
The WindowsUPPER PANELS
The County Council Of Lanark. LOWER PANELS The Canal and Coal mining Shows a narrowboat, winding gear, a steam driven water pump and a miners lamp. The Iron Industry Contains old brick furnaces and the canal which was vital to the transportation of the raw materials to make iron. The more recent metal Blast Furnaces and the railroad. The metal furnaces, gas holders and overhead tracks were taken from a photograph of the Gartsherrie Iron Works before it was closed. The lower section shows a foundry based on an illustration of Airdrie Iron Foundry. Callipers and dividers and finally a small section of rope. This indicates that the area had a rope making industry but it is also an allusion to the cubist collage by Picasso in which he frames the work with rope. Weaving This panel shows the great tradition of hand loom weaving as it was carried out around Airdrie before the industrial revolution. I have tried to convey the dominance which the loom had within the cottage of the weaver. The Railways Rail transport played a vital part in the industrial growth of the area superseding the canal as the vital link with the suppliers of raw materials and for exporting the finished products. The importance of the railways were undermined by the decline of the steam train. The Container Base. This panel shows a rail mounted container crane in operation. I include this as the containerisation of goods has had a great impact in the last few years. It is also included as it is located on the site of the Gartsherrie Iron Works. Town Centres and Road Transport. In this section the most relevant symbols of today are the motor car and road transport. This is in comparison with the mass transport facility of the railways in former times. I have also indicated the pedestrian precinct, a road walkover and housing. Leisure and Recreation Included here are the sports of; basketball and netball, squash and badminton, swimming, sailing, fishing, bowls and the canal with a smaller boat for leisure trips. Technology In this panel I show what I consider to be some of the most relevant developments in industry in recent years. The computer terminal and screen, micro chips on a printed circuit board, the robotic arm and the conveyor belt. Other images here show a still for making whisky which is still important in this area and prefabricated factory units assembled by the SDA.
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