Isabelle Davies

This collection of works is a reaction to recent proposals for a change in leadworking legislation which, among other unintended negative impacts, will have potentially catastrophic consequences for – so-termed – 'Women of Reproductive Capacity' working in stained glass. The works form a meditation on how, as a heritage craft and often religious art form, stained glass has always been deeply entwined with the struggle of women. Western Christianity has entrenched women’s societal devaluing, with justifications of inferiority including Original Sin and bodily shame. As a facet of that devaluation, the contribution of women to the canon of art has often been overlooked or entirely forgotten.

Agent Provocateur invokes Eve, the first woman and the first biblical site of bodily contention and control. The work is a contemporary and interactive twist on Eve’s coverings following Original Sin. It plays with Victorian-style painted vegetation and prudishness. The body of Eve is not present in the fig leaf lingerie but the legacy is; any person can engage with her role by interacting with the sculpture.

Fallen Far from the Tree depicts a detail of a rounded body curled up surrounded by apple leaves and blossom and meditates on cycles and contradictions. The focus on the stomach, thighs, and breast amongst the blossoms is a celebration of fertility and creation but also suggests pain, constriction and fruitlessness. The title is a nod to the Fall; the figure could be Eve, cursed to suffer increased pain with childbirth. It is also part of the phrase ‘The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree’, leaving the viewer to consider inherited pain, comfort, joy, and creativity, as well as questions of the future (particularly with proposed legislation changes: will life be the same or different for women in stained glass)? The piece was partly inspired by the work of Margaret Isobel Chilton (1875-1963) in Ely's Stained Glass Museum.

Red for courage, green for long cherished ambitions is a quotation from Mary Lowndes (1856-1929), a stained glass artist and banner maker and designer for the Women’s Suffrage movement. This piece imagines what stained glass might become for women who are unable to access traditional materials and techniques following the implementations of legislative proposals. Fragments of salvaged glass, including from wine bottles, form the leaves of an ivy plant. Ivy is notorious for being a survivor. The piece is a vision of unconstrained growth and hope despite adversity. The use of copper foiling is an homage to the ‘Tiffany Girls’ – including Clara Driscoll, Agnes Northrop and many more unknown women – who designed and produced pioneering glass for Louis Comfort Tiffany in late 19th and early 20th century New York.

The bowls bring the collection full circle, unifying fragments of green glass to hold fresh apples. The decorative bowls are abstract, with their inherent tension as fragmented pieces softened by the tactile smoothing of glass edges in the kiln. The overlapping of pieces creates depth of colour and movement as the bowls catch the light; a glossy canopy of leaves in a garden. The bowls suggest the donation of offerings and the domestic sphere of preparing food.