The Journey
In 2019 a small group of stained glass artists started making plans for a new exhibition in the medieval church of Weston, in Wharfedale, to be held in the summer of 2020, titled: Journeys: to Wharfe from Thames and Tawe | Teithiau: I'r Wharfe o'r Tafwys a'r Tawe.
Some of them had already started work, developing their ideas and creating designs on the Journeys theme when Covid intervened.
With the world almost at a standstill, the concept of Journeys more than ever fired the imagination, and it was decided to continue on a different kind of Journey, creating a website containing a virtual evolving gallery of work in progress with a vernissage of finished works in July 2020 to coincide with what would have been the opening of the exhibition.
This activity generated new interest in their project, and a new itinerary emerged: coming together from south east England, south Wales and Yorkshire the finished pieces were displayed in 2021 at the National Stained Glass Museum, the ancient church of St Mary in the famous market town of Barnard Castle, and at St Helen’s Church, Denton, which also features the only surviving picture window by Henry Gyles.
Venues and Dates
St Helen’s Church, Denton (Ilkley) - 11th-12th September 2021
St Mary's Church, Barnard Castle - 12th - 23rd July 2021
The Stained Glass Museum, Ely, Cambridgeshire - 18th May -25th June 2021
The Artists
Jonathan Cooke
Catrin Davies
Nicola Kantorowicz
Elizabeth Lamont
Rachel Phillips
Christian Ryan
Journey 1 - Like Truth and Fire, Christian Ryan
Journey 2-When I Became The Night, Christian Ryan
Journey 3- When Night Became Day, Christian Ryan
“My journey is spiritual in nature, and explores the passage between the seen and unseen, the journey from the dark to the light. The bird motif, often recurring in my work, is an everyday reminder of the link between the physical and the spiritual.”