stained glass for places of worship

The Glass Artist and the DAC / A Faculty for Stained Glass

New stained glass is a luxury for a church, especially when so many churches find it hard to gather funds for the continuous upkeep of the building. However, ecclesiastical stained glass design still forms a major part of new work produced by glass artists in this country.

Every proposed site of new stained glass is an opportunity to create a really special piece of spiritual fine art. We may not always get a piece of work with 'the wow factor' but it's great to aim for it. Our churches, when open, provide a special interactive backdrop to stained glass works. Stained glass windows are part of the fabric of the building after all. I do believe that they are both fine art and public art.

As a practising stained glass designer and maker I have spent a great deal of time embedded in the commissioning process. Indeed, even more so now that I am a member of Chichester DAC. I am seeing both sides when designs come through the DAC. There is so often a definite line between the view of the artist and their client, but I hope to give a balanced view here.

Without the successful collaboration of client, artist, architect and DAC, it is hard for the plans for new installations to reach successful completion or sometimes even get off the ground.

The Commissioning Process

It often takes months, and it has been known to take years, to make it through the DAC, and then to gain a Faculty in order to start the work. This process may not look very creative but it forms an essential foundation for the organisation and execution of a stained glass commission. The artist will get to know his/her client very well during this process.

If you are unlucky, you can get caught in what I call 'the eternal loop of approval'. Where designs are altered, and then shuffled back and forth until a faculty is given. This is frustrating for artist, client and DAC but good background work can lessen the chance of this happening.

The very first step - The Initiator of the Commission

Many things need to be considered by the initiator of a project when setting out to realize the creation of a stained glass window. Before a client can even begin pondering about identifying an artist the following points should be addressed:

1. Why do we want to commission a stained glass window?
· What spiritual purpose will the stained glass serve?
· Why choose a piece of stained glass rather than sculpture, textiles or other mediums?
· Apart from keeping the rain out, stained glass is a functional art form that once installed is permanent and site specific.

2. Do I need a Faculty?
· Any stained glass being introduced into a building or repairs to historic glass needs a Faculty.

3. Where will it be located in the building?
This is very important. Where do you envisage the work going? There may be more than one option. The artist will need to design with this in mind. The best pieces of work are designed for a specific space and consider the following:
· What is the quality of natural light provided by the opening?
· How will the stained glass alter the light internally?
· How will the layout of the interior space effect the scale of the work?

4. How can it be installed?
· How will the glass panels be supported? Will it need bars?
· What else is around it, in terms of architecture, furniture and other art?
· How will the stained glass interact with the colour scheme throughout the building?
· What is its position in respect to the altar?
· Is the new work a focal point in terms of worship?

5. What about some informal Advice?
Some people might consider that is it helpful to approach the DAC for advice and the best way to talk about ideas for a new window is at a site visit.

6. Do I have a deadline and/or a budget? What's the position on fund raising?
The client will need to convey this to the artist early in the process.

7. What style is suitable for this location and brief?
Every existing church building will probably already have works of ecclesiastical art varying in age, style and medium
Conservation, restoration and preservation of these items are a key part of the maintenance of our churches today. This is important but I sometimes feel that there is an acute fear that craftsman today cannot meet the quality of this back catalogue unless they emulate the past.
· One can sympathise with a fear of interrupting our architectural past, however introducing a contemporary stained glass design need not necessarily jar with older works. This is the challenge placed before the contemporary ecclesiastical artist/designer today. The introduction of new fine art works can serve to link old values with new, as once the existing pieces of art must have done. Like their predecessors, the old windows of today were contemporary in their day.
· It is not always easy for people to embrace contemporary design unless it is already a feature of their church. The prospect of being responsible for installing a new piece of art into the building is a daunting one, especially as the work will remain for a long time. Yet at design stage, a contemporary approach to a spiritual brief can be entirely appropriate. It is possible for stained glass designs to reach into the future and be relevant to future generations.
· There is a purpose to stained glass design, an age-old spiritual purpose that is still present despite the evolution of fine art expression. Recently our own liturgical advisor, Ian Forester wrote a much-needed paper entitled 'Religious Art - Theological Value for Money?' In it he states and I quote 'Religious art should do its best to transmit theology! This may seem a tall order, but it is surely to be taken seriously unless our church buildings are to be filled with pretty pictures and largely secular messages.' This is an important point. Even if an ecclesiastical window is of an abstract nature it must satisfy the intended spiritual purpose.

8. Statement of Need
After considering all these points I've just covered (which are numerous I know) it might be a good time to write a Statement of Need. This, as you will know, is a key part of an application for a Faculty.

This is all vital groundwork. Only when these questions have been answered will it be time to find an artist.

Choosing a suitable artist?

Recommendations from other churches are always a good indication of whether an artist is good to work with and that the work is of good quality. Positive word of mouth travels far beyond one's locality.

Some designers will work in more than one medium, whereas others will specialise exclusively in the field of glass. Whilst it is useful to look at those who specialise in ecclesiastical stained glass design, I must also point out that 'a good designer is a good designer' and this may enable the artist to work successfully in a number of media. A portfolio and a resume should tell you a lot about their abilities.

If possible, go and see the artist's work that has been installed in other churches. Make an appointment to visit the artist's studio or meet them in the church with their portfolio. A discussion of the spiritual and theological brief can serve to stir up ideas and be an indication of what research may be required by the artist.

Compare their design work with the finished results to gain an understanding of the way the artists interprets his/her own drawings. An example of a scale design next to a photograph of a finished installation can help you understand the correlation between the two. Also enquire of what glass techniques are favoured by the artist. Find out if the artist makes their own work? Ask yourself if your chosen artist is able to provide you with the designs and background information required when applying for a Faculty. If you have a budget and/or deadline in mind they may need to design to meet these requirements.

If you have found several candidates for the commission you really need to bring it down to a single candidate, two at the most. A competition process is not necessarily encouraging for an artist. Artists often invest many hours in preparing simple sketches. If you request designs from more than one artist you should make them aware that they are amongst a shortlist of others under consideration. A design fee ought be paid to cover the time of each artist.

Ideally your research should tell you which artist is right for you. You should then work with that person to produce the most positive result, allowing them the freedom to explore the commission.

Sketch Designs

As with most artists, a portfolio can only be a reflection of the quality of work already completed. It takes a long time to build an ecclesiastical portfolio of work, especially for C of E churches.

Now, because stained glass design is a site-specific medium, a successful design stage is absolutely crucial. It allows the artist to illustrate on paper their vision, or visions, of how the glasswork might be composed. Drawing is a huge part of the stained glass process. The stained glass artist tries to explain on paper something you cannot see properly transposed into glass until the day it is installed.

Scale designs (and I stress, sketches drawn to scale) will in time become full size cartoons. The proportions on the scale drawing will be enlarged in the finished cartoon and window. It is at design stage that layout and scale are explored. The artist should consider the church or building as a whole working space when approaching the designs.

Again, I can only keep stressing the vital importance of the preparation stage; the process that leads to sketch designs. Communication, verbal and visual, between artist and client is the key. The client must be truly comfortable with the artist's design because when the proposed designs reach the DAC the client must believe in the designs.

Enter the DAC

But where does the DAC enter the picture during the run up to a Faculty? It could be anywhere along the process, but it is advisable to contact them as early as possible. Often it is not until designs reach Church House in an application for a faculty that the DAC is able to give advice. By this late stage, the location, style and artist will already have been determined. Much time, energy and money will already have been spent on preparing for a commissioned artwork. As a DAC member I know it is very difficult to unpick an application at this late stage. It is distressing when one can see a worthy proposal fail because the initial preparations were not well thought out.

Early involvement gives the DAC an opportunity to inform the process, not to interfere but to guide and give support on the important decisions that build the foundations to an excellent work of art. By this means unsuitable applications would already have been filtered out or will have received advice on how to make them more viable.

The DAC is often perceived by artists to disturb and curb the creative process. In my discussions with other glass designers I know there is often an uncomfortable gap between the artist, the client, and the DAC. Mainly, artists admit to having very limited knowledge of the DAC and therefore fear its opinion. If artists don't feel confident about getting approval for their designs it is possible they will only invest in limited preparation. There is also a case for saying that artists may not appreciate the standard of design work that is required.

Ideally good presentation ought to be an integral part of every artist's vocabulary but I wonder why we still sometimes receive so little information; designs arrive that are scrappy, un-mounted and poorly presented. This does not fill one with great confidence that the installation will be well executed. Indeed it is sometimes difficult to interpret the intentions of the artist at all, even from the perspective of another artist.

On the days that the Chichester DAC meet, we have a system where drawings, photographs and other information in support of an application are displayed on the walls of our meeting room for viewing. The display aspect of this operation is an opportunity for the artwork to impress its merits on the committee. It's a good opportunity for client, architect and artist to give a full presentation about a proposed stained glass project. Mounted colour designs, a resume from the artist, pictures of the church and the location are all vital.

The DAC requires background information to the commission in order to understand the function of the stained glass installation and also the spiritual context of the design. We need to ensure that the stained glass will be of suitable quality and appropriately installed. I'm always aware that the committee's role is both to conserve the past and to act as quality control on art for congregations of the future.

Mel Howse

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