‘Living, changing light’: stained glass art and gendered creativity in the suburban church

Nazneen Ahmed,Claire Dwyer

doi:10.1080/14755610.2017.1376695

Abstract

The creativity of religious art and practice is largely ignored in discussions of urban creativity. In this paper the importance of religious creativity in the making of suburban space is explored through a focus on the role of artists in two Christian churches in West London. Drawing on an analysis of two female stained glass artists, working in different time periods and religious contexts, this paper suggests the significance of churches as sites of creative innovation in suburban landscapes. The paper traces the negotiations and collaborations of the artists in relation to gendered expectations and institutional hierarchies and also considers the role of stained glass as a distinctive artistic medium in the creation of spiritually significant worship space for suburban congregations.

Highlights

‘Not a career for women ... physically tiring and heavy work
While our wider work has emphasised the creative significance of diverse multicultural new religious architecture in the suburbs (Shah, Dwyer, and Gilbert 2012; Dwyer et al 2013, 2015; Dwyer 2015) here we argue that an untold story of the suburban expansion of London in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century is the significance of religious art in the creation of new suburban landscapes
In offering a detailed account of the production of religious stained glass art in two suburban churches, this paper has sought to make an argument for the re-evaluation of the role of religious creativity in the making ofurban space

Summary

Introduction

‘Not a career for women ... physically tiring and heavy work. But for the enthusiast for light and colour, perhaps the most wonderful medium in the world’.1 Uncovered in an undated note in her archives in the Victoria and Albert museum, these are the words of stained glass artist, Moira Forsyth, whose first formal commission was for two sets of windows for the new suburban church of St Thomas the Apostle Church in West London in 1933. Drawing on an analysis of two female stained glass artists, working in different time periods and religious contexts, this paper suggests the significance of churches as sites of creative innovation in suburban landscapes.

Results

Conclusion