Stained glass intervention designs

After looking around the church I noticed this on one of the windows (the writing in the bottom right). I also noticed many stained glass windows. This gave me the idea to create my own mini stained glass window (or what appeared to be), with a modern intervention.

I started by researching stained glass windows and collecting suitable photos to help me with my own designs. Once I had drawn down some ideas I began converting some of them onto acetate, using permanent marker pens as they were the most suitable way to colour the acetate. I think the one on the left is most successful as the intervention is subtle yet still noticeable. I feel the colours and lines also work better on this one.

 I next created one of my designs using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I began using Illustrator, using the pen tool to draw around my scanned in design. I then imported the drawing into Photoshop, adding the outer circle using the shape tool. I could then rasterize the image, allowing me to use the paint bucket to colour it in. I chose to use accurate but saturated colours as this is what real stained glass windows commonly have. Once finished I could then flatten the image and print it onto acetate, which I will put over one of the window panels in the Church.

 

I like this design as it is a lot more clear and polished than the drawn out designs. The Costa cup isn't immediately noticeable however can be found quickly and easily, ensuring the viewers don't get bored searching for the intervention. I feel these designs could be seen to bridge the gap between this ancient religion and society today. By merging the old and new references (the bible scene and Costa) as well as the old and new techniques (stained glass and Photoshop/Illustrator) this creates a visually interesting and aesthetically pleasing juxtaposition, which encourages the viewers to interpret the work however they chose. This links to how the Chapman brothers juxtapose old with new (which can be seen in my analysis of their work) and also links to how the artist Antony Gormley (who I researched in my previous project) creates work which allows viewers to interpret it in their own way. Therefore both of these artists have influenced this piece of work in different ways.