Glasgow School of Art's stained glass studio closure 'ill-judged'

The Herald Scotland

5 days ago

The concern comes as a new stained glass window telling stories of resistance has just been unveiled at the Bridge in Easterhouse, Glasgow.
Cameron is one of a number of prominent figures who have criticised the closure of the studio, which had been providing continuing education courses in the craft since the Murals and Stained Glass degree was scrapped in the eighties.
Some of those who have attended the classes, taught by artists Eilidh Keith and Geraldine McSporran, have gone on to set up their own glass studios.
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The GSA took the decision to close the studio in its Haldane building because, it said, it required the space for its expanding number of students. Keith and McSporran are being made redundant. Those who attended the classes insist no effort was made to inform them of the closure.
Cameron said he found it hard to believe no alternative space could be found. 'The GSA bought the Stow College building: that's where its fine art department is based. Surely, there's a room in there that could be used,' he said.
Professor Dugald Cameron is unhappy with the decision. (Image: George Munro) He spoke out days after the death of Sir Brian Clarke, one of the world's leading contemporary stained glass artists. Collaborating with Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid, Clarke understood that for the artform to survive it must move beyond the religious to the secular. His work can be found in Pfizer's headquarters in Manhattan and Lake Sagami Country Club in Yamanashi, Japan.
'The problem is people don't realise stained glass isn't something only churches do,' Cameron said. 'We have a noble history of it.'
Meanwhile, artist Alec Galloway, who has a stained glass studio in Gourock, said the GSA's 'sudden' decision was 'saddening and bewildering'. In 2023, stained glass was added to the Heritage Crafts Association's (HCA) Red List of Endangered Crafts. Galloway described the situation in Scotland as 'a Doomsday clock scenario, where we are in the final seconds.'
Glasgow has the most stained glass of any UK city outside of London. In addition to church windows, there is stained glass in its villas, its tenement closes and many of its pubs.
A handful of small stained glass studios, including Galloway's, offer recreational classes, but the GSA's was the last attached to an art school. Recent talents to benefit from its teaching include Aoife Hogan, who graduated from the GSA with a first after producing stained glass pieces in the studio.
Galloway said the recreational classes were an asset but were mostly for 'hobbyists'. 'They are not producing the kinds of artists who could repair the damage we saw at Notre Dame in Paris,' he said.
Galloway taught on Scotland's last stained glass degree course at the Edinburgh College of Art until it was scrapped more than a decade ago. At the time the institution claimed it was too expensive to keep its two furnaces running. But Galloway believes those in charge thought ceramics and stained glass were 'old and messy' and dropped them in favour of clean computer design.
There are now no accredited courses in Scotland and only a handful in England. The nearest to the border is the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, which is due to close next year. However, the University of Wales is now running apprenticeship programmes in collaboration with employers.
Galloway is one of several campaigners working hard to rectify the situation in Scotland. He is involved in an attempt to buy the Glebe — a B-listed 19th Century former sugar refinery building in Greenock — and turn it into a national stained glass school.
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Galloway is also working with filmmaker Sarah Purser to try to raise the profile of the craft. Purser, executive producer at Little White Rose films, is on a mission to turn Guy McCrone's Wax Fruit trilogy into a multi-season TV epic.
The novels tell the story of the Moorhouse family who rise from humble beginnings to the heights of 19th century Glasgow society. Purser believes the series would showcase the city's heritage and so help to preserve it.
As part of this, she has offered to add one of Glasgow's most renowned stained glass artists, Daniel Cottier, to the cast list. 'When Arthur and Bel Moorhouse finally make their move from the squalor of the East End to the glamorous west of the city, they hire global superstars of the architecture and stained glass world to build and design their bespoke mansion – Scots-born geniuses Alexander 'Greek" Thomson and Daniel Cottier,' she explained.
'The Moorhouse Mansion is to be one of the finest, most extravagant and cutting edge residences in the city. But Bel and Arthur's lavish spending and insatiable desire to outdo the creme de la creme will push their already precarious finances to a knife-edge and threaten to topple all that they hold dear."
The new stained glass window. (Image: Gordon Terris) Richard Welsh and Keira McLean, who run RDW Glass in Dennistoun, have also been working to shore up the craft. McLean has been trying to set up a new accredited stained course at Langside College and has worked with various community groups to create stained glass windows at libraries across the city. The latest, which tells stories of resistance, including that of activist Cathy McCormack and the poll tax demos, was unveiled at the Bridge in Easterhouse on Thursday, July 24.
But their efforts are not being matched by the authorities tasked with preserving our heritage. Having secured the space and the materials for her course, McLean has struggled to obtain funding to cover her fee.
As for the GSA, Cameron says it has not responded to his email, though he discussed the situation with a member of its senior staff, and responses to freedom of information requests on the details of consultations it claims were carried out are so redacted as to be meaningless.
'Since I retired, I have tried to support the art school because I do love the place,' Cameron said. 'But it needs to be more careful of its history and its USP. It needs to consider what it can contribute today that other people can't.'