Gallery - Glenmorangie Still Room

The Glenmorangie Signet - based on the Codbole Stone

the original concept was just to use the signet as the image. I convinced the marketing team to allow the borders of the stone to be included to create a natural border to the window. During the time I was commissioned to make this work, the base of the stone which had been broken and lost, was rediscovered allowing me to see the carving in perfect condition.

Kericho Cathedral

all art works for the cathedral

This project occupied me for most of ten years in one way or another. For a full understanding of this huge project, please watch the video.

Queens' Park Synagogue

The Jewish Festivals

This project took me over three years. This was the last project I made in my own studio in Glasgow. ~I made the first10 windows there and then made the Sabbath Window in Germany and all of the other windows too.

Cafe Gandolfi

Flock of Fishes

this work was made in 2 sections three years apart, 1984 and 1987. The Cafe Gandolfi has become the most iconic cafe in the Merchant City in Glasgow. I always go there when I am in Glasgow.

Falklands War Memorial 

Peace out of Chaos

There was a competition  around 2000 to create a memorial window for this newly constructed chapel in the grounds of Pangbourne College.

The window is made using Lamberts Glass and I made this in the Derix studio in Germany. It is extensive and multi layered acid etching. In the area of the cross, I also used glass painting and silverstaining.

Shanghai Holy Trinity

Old Testament -  themes of Christ  - New Testament

This project was commissioned to try to give a sense of the original windows. However the clients asked for more of a sense of space within the windows. I therefor used my experience of acid etching to achieve this. I prepared concepts for the remaining windows within this building, however it seems unlikely that these will be made.

Domaine Mechtildshausen

Fundamental Elements

A set of windows for this Organic Domaine near Wiesbaden in Germany. I created window for three facades within the compound using Lamberts Glass and extensive multi layered acid etching. I made these at the Derix Studio which is relatively nearby. The only additional colour used was silverstain.

Pipes and Stripes

Four bagpipe melodies 

transposed into colour using a system I developed and researched using Bullseye Glass at the studio in Portland, Oregon. They window was commissioned for a former manse in Caithness, Scotland by the owners of the Bullseye Studio. The window used around 10,00 strips of coloured glass fused together.

Glasgow Cathedral

The Millennium Window

This was a work to mark the millennium. It is on a theme of "GROWTH" and is a set of parables that are written and to some degree illustrated. A very technically complex work to create.

End of the Age of Innocence
 

Material - Mouth Blown Lamberts Glass Technique - Glass Etching, glass painting and silverstaining Dimensions - "2.96Mt x 1.48Mt (8ft x 4ft) 

Commissioned for a private Villa in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

I made this work at the Derix studio in Taunusstein. It is entirely made using traditional methods, It is surely one of the most complex etching projects made. I have included below and article based on the project.

27
FEB
2023

End of the Age of Innocence


I was asked by the client to create a Window using Medieval Symbolism but the use of the material and the subject matter was left in my hands.
On the occasion I was asked to undertake this project, I had spent several days with the client and saw often a copy of a tapestry of the Lady with the Unicorn. This seemed an appropriate theme and I began with this as the main subject for the window. Several of the motifs and qualities that interested me in the tapestry have been used in the window.
Musé National du Moyen Age (aka Cluny Museum) in Paris.
Images and concepts drawn from this source.
The woman and Unicorn, The symbol of the Lion. The concept of the carpet of flowers. The presence of the trees. I used one instead of two placing the group directly in the shade of the tree. I made the tree, The Tree of Life as described in the Book of Revelation. The background colour of red also seemed appropriate.

Most of the images and symbolism used in the Medieval period had a religious interpretation. I have used the symbolism in this work for its decorative qualities.
I decided to set this scene in Paradise which in the Middle Ages was assumed to be an unreachable or undiscovered part of the earth. Paradise was typically imagined as an enclosed space or an island. The theme of the Woman and the Unicorn is very old and implies a state and time of innocence. The main group is the Woman and the Unicorn, She has a Lamb in her lap and behind her shoulder is a Lion. They sit beneath the Tree of Life from which descends a Serpent. The tree contains the many fruits and blossoms as described in Revelation, and the group sits on a bed of flowers. (see the symbols list below) As I worked on the designs, the group of figures got pushed further back into the composition and I formed three distinct areas within the space: Heaven, Paradise and Earth. At the top of the window therefore is Heaven where on both sides Angels playing musical instruments swoop into the scene. These I drew from medieval illuminated manuscripts. The area of Heaven is separated from Paradise by the firmament. The Tree of life reaches from Paradise and has a tentative contact to the area of Heaven. The theme of separation of Paradise from Earth is achieved by the other main theme of the window, water. For the foreground I found another symbol that I have frequently used in some form, the fountain. I also found a link with the story of the Unicorn so it seemed doubly relevant here. As can be seen from this illustration, I have adapted and used several of the symbols from this illustration Taken from this source The shape and form of the fountain The pheasant drinking The other birds The water pouring from the mouth of the decorative lion The Unicorn Is Found (detail), ca. 1495-1505 Southern Netherlands The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hirschberg - Former Synagogue

Past and looking forward

These two beautiful round windows were designed for this former synagogue near Heidelberg in Germany. They were to mark the renovation of this former synagogue that has been converted to a cultural center.

Herrmansacker

The Holy Trinity

An award winning set of windows for this renovated church in the Thuringen Region of Germany. I designed them about 10 years before they were finally commissioned.

Govanhill Project

Dignity and Respect

I loved what I did here. I made this using Lamberts Glass at the Derix Studio as usual. 

This project was for an old folks home in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. It is a work over a few floors of the building. The sad thing about this work is that it really can't be seen. It is only visible after dark. The panels are located in two stairwell that are seldom used. Even I have no access to this building.

Baby Beds

two marquetry beds made for a Japanese client

this was one of the strangest projects I have ever made. I always said that once I understand a material, an art form, I can design for it. This project was a perfect example of this thinking. I was asked if I could make wood mosaics, I didn't know what I was being asked to do. The client loved the windows I made for the Cafe Gandolfi in Glasgow and asked me to make two baby beds using that idea. I realized that I had to also design the furniture as well as the panels. So this is what I did.

These pieces were made in Sorrento in Italy. I used to go there once a month. Finally the project happened and we created these amazing art works. They are somewhere in Japan.

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