Art and Architecture

St George's Church in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, has installed a new stained glass window depicting the Madonna and child, reinforcing the church's reputation for nurturing modern craftsmanship.

The church is already home to Lorna May Wadsworth's The Last Supper, which is a 12-foot canvas featuring a modern-day interpretation of Da Vinci's masterpiece.

This new 9ft by 12ft installation, designed and created by Greg Tricker, the internationally-recognised stained glass artist, will cement the church in the guidebooks as a place to see moving and inspirational spiritual art.

The beautiful stained glass window of the Madonna and Child is mounted in a cherry wood frame which was constructed by John Meletiou, Director of Meaco Woodwork Ltd, Nailsworth.

 

The original St George’s Lady Chapel extended beyond a wooden screen that was erected some years ago to accommodate a new clergy vestry. The new window is set in the void, above the screen, and has reinstated the Lady Chapel’s importance in a dramatic fashion.

It took around 6 months to complete, with Greg drawing the artwork, selecting and cutting the glass, and mixing and painting a special dark paint onto the glass for the detail. The cut glass is fired at 680 degrees Celcius and glows gold and yellow. During this process, the black paint sinks into the surface and fuses with the glass. Once it's cooled, it can be rubbed back to allow the detail of the artwork to shine through. Then each piece of glass needed to be surrounded by lead, brushed down, and soldered into place.

Greg said, "The glass has a wonderfully translucent quality, a sense of living light that you're standing in and that you feel inwardly. The Madonna's protective veil almost comes down around the Christ child, depicting some of the mystery that surrounds Mary. It shows the time that light came into the world and the light is transmitted to us. I find it a joy to work with the colours and their qualities and become very immersed in my work."

To mark the unveiling, church members, previous clergy and representatives of Nailsworth organisations came together on Sunday 2 July for a special service led by the Revd Caroline Bland at which the Rt Revd Robert Springett, Bishop of Tewkesbury, dedicated the window, the funding for which was made possible by an anonymous donation.

The Revd Caroline Bland, Vicar for the Nailsworth Benefice, said, "Stained Glass windows are a prominent feature in churches and cathedrals and the result of a craft that in Britain can be traced back to the 7th Century. Sunlight, of course, is such an important element in showing the beauty of such windows, as the light travels through the glass, it reveals the beauty of colour and pattern and in churches can draw us into a spiritual connection with God. Sunlight enables a story of creativity to be told and to see the glory of God reflected in the images that are portrayed."

Bishop Robert said, "One of the great things about stained glass windows is how they can speak to us in different ways. For me, I find Mary’s eyes most striking, with the brightness of the light shining through. As she gazes on the Christ Child and on us, we see the love of God made visible. I pray that as you take time to gaze upon it, God may speak to you the word you should hear and that you might be brought still closer to the life of Christ."


Art and music play a big part in our life at St George’s.
 
The Church organises a bi-annual Art  Festival, Nailsworth school students also have a number of exhibitions through the year.  



Stained Glass

The church, being relatively modern has few items of historical interest in it but it does contain some interesting stained windows in the south aisle – three that depict St Luke, St Paul and St Barnabas all bearing the wheat sheaf mark of Kempe and three depicting St Richard of Chichester, St George and St Martin. The remaining stained glass window, depicting the prophetess Anna bears the craft mark (a greyhound) of Herbert Bryans. The East window, erected in 1977, was designed by Peter Strong.

The Architecture of the Church

This large parish church, consecrated in November 1900 and with a seating capacity of 500, was built in the Early English style and consisted originally only of a nave, aisles and south porch because the new building fund was insufficient to cover the provision of a chancel and a tower. The architect was a Mr M H Medland FRIBA of Gloucester.
 
Subsequently the chancel, Lady Chapel and vestries were added in 1939 in memory of those who died in the First World War but the church tower was never built because of the continuing lack of money. The adjoining Parish Room was built as a major extension to the vestries in 1980 and is used frequently by the community at large for all sorts of activities.
 
More information on the history and features of the church can be found in the downloadable History of St George's leaflet on our downloads page.  CLICK HERE INSTEAD!

The West End Mural

In 1985 Sir Oliver Heywood responded to a commission to paint a large mural on the west wall of Saint George’s Church. Initially he and his wife Denise spent a month in the town, sketching, photographing, and getting to know the local people. Then in his studio Oliver carefully drew and planned the work. Finally, the mural took shape on the wall. Both Denise and a number of children came to help. The painting shows Christ surrounded by the people of Nailsworth.  

The Last Supper

Behind the altar of St George’s church is a large painting. Entitled “The Last Supper”, it was painted by Lorna May Wadsworth as a commission for the church. 
 
At the beginning of 2008 St George’s Church was advised that a church member, Mr Alan Denman, who had died in January, had left them a substantial sum: “on condition that the monies are not used for the general maintenance and repair of the church but for a mural with a religious theme preferably “The Last Supper” on the East wall of the Church behind the high altar“.
 
The search began to see if such a condition could be fulfilled. Mr Denman’s son, Nigel, had a client, Vicky, who painted and mentioned it to her - she did not think she could tackle such a task but had a friend who she knew from an Art College in Plymouth who was a portrait painter in London – Lorna May Wadsworth. Contact was made and Lorna was intrigued by the possibility of a commission to paint The Last Supper, having just been inspired by recent visits to Florence. Having visited the church, she agreed to undertake the commission on three conditions.

Her conditions before she accepted the commission were that she be given artistic freedom to create a painting to the best of her ability and that she be allowed to exhibit the painting in London before it came to Nailsworth and that she had in mind a model for Jesus and he was black.
 
The painting was finished and then first exhibited in London before being delivered to St George’s and hung, with Lorna in attendance on the 8th April 2009. The painting was unveiled by Nick Denman and his family during a special service on the 23rd April and dedicated by the then Bishop of Gloucester, Rt Revd. Michael Perham.
 
More details about Lorna can be found on her web-site www.lornamaywadsworth.com

When the Last supper painting was purchased by St George's,  it was agreed it could be taken by Lorna May to exhibit on two occasions.   The painting was exhibited in Sheffield at the end of 2019 and the above painnting was put in its place until its return. 
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