Flat Glass

Stained Glass in New Zealand

Stained glass is fascinating because its chief medium is light. The quality and texture of light fluctuate and enhance the differences in the colour and thickness of the glass. The play of light on a large church window or humble domestic leadlight door panel adds interest and variety, and stained glass has therefore been a powerful medium of communication down the ages.

The basic techniques and methods of manufacture have changed little since the middle ages when the craft/art began. Art/craft, because stained glass requires skills in both disciplines

There have been artists and crafts people creating stained glass in New Zealand for well over a century but with the flowering of new and innovative work in Europe and the US over the past fifty years, more people than ever before have been engaged in glass design and manufacture. Several workshops have been held in different parts of the country by overseas glass people. Despite New Zealand's small population there are a number of studios operating throughout the country.

Prior to the 1970s a major quantity of church windows was imported from the United Kingdom. Since then most installations have been of local origin. Because of the brief that often goes with an ecclesiastical commission, the fully painted technique is called for, involving a high degree of skill from the window's creator. Glass in secular buildings, both domestic and commercial, has given the opportunity for a diverse number of designs inspired by the modern English and German styles.

Mrs Beverley Shore Bennett
Stained glass artist
September 1998

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