Stained Glass at St Barnabas
In 2005 St. Barnabas' School in York commissioned Rural Arts and stained glass artist Jane Littlefield to create three windows for their new school building.
The inspiration for the designs came from the previous Victorian building and its surroundings. Children investigated the changes which had taken place since the first school was founded. They looked at the history of the surrounding railway cottages, and of the school itself. They read memoirs of former pupils, which helped them to find aspects of change - in styles of writing, tastes in food - and of stability - the enduring appeal of football, for example.
Rural Arts artist and workshop co-ordinator, Julia Smith, worked with the children to turn their findings into a series of brightly coloured collages and Jane Littlefield worked the collages up into three stained glass panels.
The school's headteacher wanted all the children to have the opportunity to create their own piece of stained glass. Because of the risks involved in handling glass, lead and solder, Jane Littlefield devised a spectacular glass mobile to which each child could contribute a small glass tile. In preparation, she cut 120 pieces of coloured glass, ground the edges until smooth and drilled a hole in each piece. Each child then painted a tile with a design drawn from their memories of the old school.
The project was funded by the Percentage for Art initiative, through building contractors Seddons.
