Australia

born 1940

www.cedarprest.com.au

I fell in love with stained glass by studying medieval history at university and later visiting European cathedrals. I love the ethereal atmosphere produced by transmitted light, the coloured reflections on the floor and the stories. There was no training available for women in Australia then but I found the opportunity through two London Art Schools in 1965 and later in the studios of the Coventry masters, Patrick Reyntiens and Lawrence Lee.

I was excited by the post war work commissioned by Fr Pierre Couturier and that of German designers Schaffrath, Schreiter, Meisterman, and Poensgen in Robert Sowers book "Stained Glass the lost art" and got an early Australia Council Grant to study this work in 1975. The result was the worlds first Community Stained Glass projects as I searched for a way to introduce the architectural glass approach of Germany and its subtle opal and opak glass to Australia. The first project was Parks Community Centre, Mansfield Park SA in 1979 where 80 volunteers trained and made I10 sauare meters for 5 sites. The success of these public art works dedicated to "being Australian where we are" led to other projects in regional centres like Whyalla, Remark and Alice Springs. These projects gave access to any who volunteered and resulted in great public pride and meaningful public art works, there have been 12 projects in all exploring regional identity.

I have always wanted to reflect my country in my work and retell bible stories for church windows in an Australian context. The development of symbols and local interpretation of archetypes seems very appropriate for stained glass where people like to see their story told and history reflected .