Title: "The Dove Window" by Claudia Phipps
A stained glass window celebrating 125 years of Wycombe Abbey School.
Techniques: photographic decals, engraved flashed glass.
Photograph: Claudia Phipps
www.claudiaphipps.co.uk
claudia.dalessandro.378
This project came about as a result of conversations with Wycombe Abbey’s school archivist and a trip to visit the archive of photos which tracks the history of the school with imagery going back to the beginning with Dame Dove, the first headmistress and founder of the school. I had a great time looking through and learning about the way the school operated throughout its long history. Selecting imagery to use was not easy!
I worked with year 7 and 8 to explore ways to use photos in collage before starting to plan the final window design. I was inspired by the beautiful William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones Windows in the V&A Museum. Considering how to create the structure to fit in with the gothic revival architecture of the Abbey, I decided to create a fairly classic composition based around the circles and a centre design. I used diamond lathe engraving to create the dove. Working with photographic imagery was new to me, and I spent time exploring and experimenting with the new technique before I was ready to use it. I tried to use all the colours of the houses as well as the blues to represent the school.
I loved working with the archive material – the older images were really fascinating. I combined them with more recent imagery to represent current times. There are now so many images to choose from, but curating the photos was not an easy task! Altogether, they tell the story of the 125 years of Wycombe Abbey.
The completed stained-glass window is now on display for everyone to see in the main Wycombe Abbey corridor.