Glass Art Begins Stained Glass Column: Introducing Sarah Hall

Ten years ago, Glass Art magazine was founded with the goal of promoting, educating and inspiring stained glass retailers, studios, collectors and enthusiasts. Though our coverage has been expanded to include more in-depth articles on a variety of glasswork, our original dedication to stained glass continues.

With this goal in mind, Glass Art magazine introduces a new stained glass column which will appear in each issue of the publication. This column will focus on aesthetic, technical, business and ethical issues of stained glass craftsmanship. It will also provide a forum for reader discussion, debate and questions.

To author this column, Glass Art magazine has selected Sarah Hall. Hall began her study of stained glass in Canada at Sheridan College. She continued her studies at Swansea College of Art in Wales, and in 1977 earned a diploma in Architectural Glass from the City and Guilds London. She served as an apprentice under Lawrence Lee, the glass master at the Royal College of Art. A strong interest in Islamic techniques led Hall to Jerusalem for eight additional months.

Since 1980, Hall's studio has been in Toronto. She has created over 100 commissions for churches, hospitals, schools and corporations in Canada, the United States and Europe. Hall recently completed one of the world's largest (1,200 square feet) glass murals for Scotia Plaza in Toronto. "Our projects have been wonderfully diverse, and I feel by sharing our experiences and technical experiments, we can engage readers who are at any stage in their careers," explains Hall. Her work has been awarded an International First Prize for Outstanding Liturgical Art for two consecutive years from Modern Liturgy (1991, 1992) in addition to an Honor Award from the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture. Hall has been nominated for the Chalmers Award by the Ontario Craft Council.

"One of the joys of her art," says K. Corey Keeble, Associate Curator, European Department, Royal Ontario Museum, "is that each commission wonderfully seems to embrace the whole history of the medium from its Medieval antecedents to playful quotations from the enamel tradition of post Renaissance glass and the acid etching of the stained glass revival of the Victorian era. It proclaims integrity and continuity."

Keeble continues, "Interestingly, an analogy for Sarah Hall's artistic success in the medium of stained glass comes not from the static arts, but from the kinetic ones. Sarah's achievements in glass are akin to those of the best choreographers in the fields of modern and classical dance. She uses color and line in architectonic harmony much as choreographers blend movement, music and the bodies of individual dancers into unified, complementary compositions. In Sarah's work, the blend includes the subtle interrelationships between glass as window, glass as design and glass functioning in concert with architecture. These are rare accomplishments."

In addition to studio work, Hall offers stained glass tours of Toronto and related workshops for The Gardiner and Royal Ontario Museums, and is currently writing a book titled "A Stained Glass Tour of Toronto".

Says Hall, "I am delighted to be writing a stained glass column for Glass Art. I love our medium - its history, myriad techniques and potential for contemporary artistic expression. I look forward to sharing our work, techniques and philosophy with Glass Art's readers. We will also occasionally feature 'stories from the studio', which would be funny/tragic true-life tales. These stories will hopefully help to dispel elitism and encourage beginners."

Hall and Glass Art magazine extend an invitation to readers to send in questions or comments relating to stained glass: Glass Art magazine, P.O. Box 260377, Highlands Ranch, CO 80163. Hall's first column will appear in our next issue, so stay tuned...