Holy Trinity Church, Rotherithe, London
June 16th-18th 2023
Seek His Face, Christian Ryan, 2023
In late 2021, a turquoise sheet of hand made streaky glass made by English Antique Glass was cut into six equal pieces, with lots drawn to allocate one piece to each artist to create a piece of work for the next instalment of the Journeys | Teithiau exhibition. The results came together and were seen for the first time at Rotherhithe in a unique collaboration.
The Glazier Magazine - Spring 2023
The piece for the exhibition is a continuation of the ‘Journeys’ theme from our previous exhibitions, where my personal theme has been concerned with conveying a spiritual journey. My panel uses symbols and text from scripture to explore the passage between the seen and unseen, the journey from darkness to light and links between the physical world and the spiritual.
On seeing the aqua glass, I decided to use my collage approach that allows spontaneity and surprise in its composition. This is a technique I use when creating some of my smaller pieces which gives a certain freedom when compared to creating a design and cartoon that is usual for commissioned work.
I cut the green glass into squares and started to work on various motifs from my sketchbook by etching through the green layer and painting on each piece individually. I also started to introduce other coloured pieces, to modulate the colour and add contrast. When I felt happy that I had enough pieces that conveyed the theme clearly enough for me, I began to collage on the light box, layering the glass and assessing each piece’s relationship to each other until I was happy with the composition and created the finished panel for the exhibition.