Introduction by Mr Stuart James - Librarian

John K. Clark

Chancellor,

I present to you for the honorary award of Doctor of the University, John K. Clark. It might seem a strange circumstance for a University to wish to award an honorary degree to a former student who stayed with us only a year before deciding that his course at Paisley was not what he wanted, and leaving us to pursue an alternative career. But such is the case of John K. Clark; and lest there be any doubts arising from his first brief association with Paisley College, let us immediately reflect that the alternative career he chose to pursue has been one that has brought him wide renown, and which has, both literally and by repute, embellished his native country, including the town of Paisley.

Born in Dumbarton in 1957, John K. Clark came to Paisley College for the session 1974-75 as a full-time student of Mathematics and Computing. At the end of his year here he was sitting in the student refectory when he began to sketch the very building in which we are now conducting this ceremony. As he made his sketches, the realisation dawned on him that he what he really wanted in life and for his career was to be an artist. So, he decided to pursue his dream and leaving Paisley, enrolled instead in the Glasgow School of Art, where he was awarded his degree first (BA)in 1980, and graduated in 1981 (MA). Of course, in an earlier age he might have stayed here to pursue his ambitions in the Paisley School of Art and Design, as this institution was once known.

Between 1982 and 1984 John K. Clark lectured in the Stained Glass Department of Glasgow School of Art, at the same time as he was establishing himself as a freelance stained glass artist. His first commission, in 1982, was of a bird in flight for Glasgow Museum and Art Galleries. Another commission, panels depicting a flock of fishes, in the window of the Café Gondolfi in Glasgow, was to bring him wider recognition in two Saltire Awards for Art in Architecture, in 1988 His other Saltire Award was for the Carmichael Memorial Window in Kippen Parish Church.

Although numerous commissions, both ecclesiastical and secular, were achieved and successful completed, by 1990 John K. Clark felt that if he stayed in Scotland his time would largely be spent in repairing and restoring the work of earlier stained glass artists and not in creating new works of his own. So, never a man to shirk a major decision, he moved to Germany where, in a much larger country, he would expect to find greater opportunities for stained glass work in new buildings. Subsequent windows in Wettenberg, Worms-Herrnsheim, Amberg-Ammersricht and Wertheim-Bettingen, as well as current projects in Germany, testify to the wisdom of that decision.

Not that Scotland was left behind, for there have been as many commissions here as there were before his move to Germany. Not only here, but South of the border too, among them: a window commemorating the captivity and freedom of British hostages in Beirut for Broxted Parish Church in Essex; and The Falklands War Memorial window in Pangbourne College.

All this demonstrates a European dimension to John K. Clark's work and artistic development, but we return to Scotland and specifically to Paisley for two further examples of his work: the James Shaw memorial window in Paisley Abbey, for which he won another Saltire Award; and a Heritage Window, to the theme of separation and re-unification, at Oakshaw Church, commemorating the unification of four separate churches. And more recently still, in 2002, a window in three sections in the Old Kirk of Kilmalcolm. His work is to be found all over Scotland, from Dumfries and Lockerbie (a memorial window in the town hall) to Dundee. His native town of Dumbarton also has a John K. Clark window unveiled in the town's Riverside Church in 2002.

Commissioners of his work are as varied, and include, in addition to churches and individuals: the Forestry Commission; The Royal Faculty of Procurators of Glasgow; the University of Strathclyde; and the Piping Centre in Glasgow, which received his three Pibroch Windows in 1996. Opportunities for secular work in stained glass are very much in evidence, including not only the Café Gondolfi but also Glasgow's Princes Square shopping mall.

His decision to move to Germany to avoid the limitations of commissions in one small country has proved wise not only in terms of the breadth of new commissions, but also in terms of his own artistic development. In his more recent work John K. Clark has moved towards combining text with image: his windows at Kilmalcolm combine biblical text with symbols related to them; his Alexander Stone Memorial Window for Hutchesons' Grammar School emphasises texts in monumental form. His artistic awareness has a truly European dimension which is thus brought back into his native country through his varied commissions.

Inevitably an artist of John K. Clark's stature finds himself involved in much more than his commissions. He has been both teacher and lecturer. His work has been featured in exhibitions in Glasgow and London, and in France and Germany. Dedications of his windows have been covered in the press, and his work has been featured by major newspapers in Scotland and England. In addition to his Saltire Awards he has received the Bene Award, the highest award for excellence, for his Millennium Window in Glasgow Cathedral.

Interestingly, and fittingly, given the subject he briefly studied here before embarking on his career as an artist, his web site has been given a very well deserved award by the computing magazine ".net": the site is outstanding for: the intrinsic interest of John K. Clark's work featured in it; for his discussion and illustration of the theory and practice behind that work; and as an example of how a web site full of such rich content can also demonstrate outstanding principles of design and be a thing of beauty itself.

Chancellor, almost thirty years ago now, John K. Clark made a very far-sighted decision to leave us to pursue his artistic career. His decision was taken to further his own artistic development and opportunity, but it was a decision which would benefit us all here in Scotland too: the fruits of it are there for all to see across Scotland, in England and in Germany. He pursues an ancient craft, but very much in a twenty-first century setting, as artist and entrepreneur. His work embellishes his native country, including this town, and his reputation at home and abroad enhances the wider reputation of Scotland as a home of all the arts. In recognition of these achievements I ask you, Chancellor, now to take an equally far-sighted decision and confer on John K. Clark the honorary award of Doctor of the University.