We first viewed the film KAE and Nathalie had written together to offer the children a guided 'walk through' the Heavenly Lights exhibition selecting the artwork relevant to the artistic activities to follow.
A walk which took them for a journey in the stories Margaret Agnes Rope has painted.
Nathalie did then an introduction to the art of stained glass, an art form they may have seen in the Shrewsbury Roman Catholic Cathedral, as pupils of the Roman Catholic School.
It was a time to share the study Nathalie did
to identify the birds Marga had clearly cherished in her cartoons.
Two cartoons on show in the Heavenly Lights were the perfect display
of Margaret Agnes Rope love of birds.
One of five high windows by Margaret Agnes Rope in Saint Peter and St Paul in Newport. The birds truly have a meaning in the landscape. A dipper by the well, a lesser redpoll in the woody leafy background, a kingfisher appearing by her arm in its flight which is an other bird of waters or a solitary bird, all placed in the sites a ornithologist will find them.
The school the participants go to is named after St Winefride
St Winefride is also meaningful to Nathalie who first went to St Winefride's Well in 1995 or 1996.
She had been for a major head surgery in France in 1994,
before she moved to Swansea University to study stained glass art.
She since then went back to the site nearly each year.
She wanted to give her prayers to St Winefride to keep her head in good shape for many years.
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Cartoon 2
The Benedicte (Llandovery, Wales)
Given in memory of Herbert and Teresa Vaughan, the nephew and niece of the artist, both of whom died in childhood and are depicted in the window. Please read the full study on the post Feathered Regulars
I asked the children to work to a scale that will be proportional to the full size cartoon I had brought on site and showed to them. All glass pieces I had cut for them were to a size they were invited to keep as there reference once they had selected the piece of glass.
KAE Films was hardly noticed by children all in the world of birds
a few birds sketches before a first intro to glass painting
Lamberts Glas many samples to guide their customers in their choices
Robert Christ _ Lamberts G
Very few 'no'_ many 'maybe'_ two 'Yes' it has to be
The choice of glass textures or colours was well advanced. The participants and I did some of it as the workshops took place.
I have to stay true to the meanings of the colour scheme we all discussed, even if I have to alter some of the choices made to keep the budget right.
I made all efforts to have our colours/textures/patterns harmony kept, at the same time as reducing the number of glass panes purchased to seven.
I have an allocated budget for this new order which also is inclusive of the special reduction because of the generous sponsorship by Lamberts Glas of this project.
I also have to bear in mind which glass I have in stock at my studio that will be used for this design.
I travelled to Germany by train at the lower cost of the European InterRail ticket .
If one travels from Shrewsbury to an airport, and an airport to Waldsassen, it is all much better to take the train with an afternoon/evening in London.
It was just about time to view the Paul Nash exhibition thinking of the next commission I discussed and had a meeting just before this journey. It is for the Royal Air Force Centenary Anniversary. Hopefully it will be the next #journal.
I worked on my iPad as I travelled, enjoyed chatting in German now and then with the passengers sitting by me.
The peak times of the Lamberts Glas day were my all inspiring hours at their very special heritage building and as I was in the train leaving Marktredwitz.
I had left the site all infatuated (nearly flying) by the privilege of the superb mouth blown glass I had purchased all advised by a knowledgeable gentleman sales director Manfred Mislik who placed it all in this 'trolley'.
my 'trolley' at its very early stage
The memories for ever
15th February 2017!
At my arrival
Robert Christ, Vice President, took me the closest possible to the masters of the trade all hard at work, mouth blowing and shaping the glass.
I filmed as I listened to Robert.
Fire, furnaces, agile moves of heavy metal rods, shaping, blowing, the synchronisation of bodies complementary one to an other, all fast, a rhythm and pace to keep. A glass blowing pace and agile power of the craftsmen I wished to keep as true as possible in the film.
It will be hard to cut my glass without the memory of what I followed all live for about two hours.
The glass has been delivered to my studio since then and the handling has never been so 'loving and measured'!
KAE Films edited my films. Guest Artist for the project #margaandcollections #artscouncilengland.
KAE Films is usually the one on site filming me in the making process of this stained glass project. (vimeo.com/user49985738)
PACE & PANES
For my departure
I had the delight of the company of a retired jolly lady who chose to come by me maybe because I smiled from my sit, my head turned towards her when she had entered the coach. She knew she had someone to make a conversation with.
She was as chatty as my granny Claudinette was, same vivacity of mind one will read in her cheeks. For the most, like my granny, her ancestors had worked in the trade of glass.
But even better in the skilful trade of mouth blown glass. She was confident, all very proud too, it had been a local skill for generations Czechs and Germans neighbours worked at together.
She knew all of the filmed skills I was displaying on my camera. Of the mouth blown glass technique for stained glass art, she approved all what I shared with her.
Her neighbour at home was a stained artist too! At Regensburg, we parted as if we'd known each other well. She waved goodbye behind the window when her train left the station, me waiting all in contempt for my next journey.
The job the character does for the RSPB speaks for a bond anyone may live with wild life UK birds, It refers to the lists the children and I worked from at the workshop A Touch of Glass.
To my surprise it inspired me for the cartoon's upper skies beyond the hills and the glass I had to select from the stocks at Lambert Glas.
Amy Liptrot's character of her novel The Outrun ( page 90, Canongate 2016 ) learnt to identify clouds and thinks:
"I become interested in a fairly recently discovered meteorological phenomenon: noctilucent cloud, literally 'night shining', the highest and one of the rarest types, drifting in the upper atmosphere. Unlike most cloud it is made of ice crystals rather than water droplets. It's usually invisible but just after the sunset around midsummer, in deep twilight, the tilt of the earth allows it to catch the last light of the sun. Sometimes known as 'space cloud', its first recorded observation was in 1885, tow years after the eruption of Krakatoa. It could be that the ice crystals have formed around specks of dust _ from volcanoes, meteors or space-shuttle exhausts.I like the idea of pollution creating something beautiful."
The character likes "the idea of pollution creating something beautiful".
a few birds sketches before a first intro to glass painting
they painted on a selection of coloured glass
