Forrest, Juliet

Juliet Forrest, 'Girl Power', First Prize winner in the 2021 Stevens Competition.
Photo: Juliet Forrest

Stevens Competition First Prize Winner 2021

Juliet Forrest first became enchanted by the medium of glass six years ago and started making stained glass as a hobby alongside her landscape painting and her ‘proper job’. Her enthusiasm for stained glass continued to grow and has now taken off as her main medium, with an expanding repertoire of techniques. She started a full time creative business in 2014.

​Juliet says “I love the way the texture, shape and colour of glass manipulates light and how light itself brings glass to life. When I first started working with glass I knew I wanted to learn about surface pattern techniques; the addition of line and texture to create depth, detail and complexity.

​My aims are simple: I aim to be the best I can be at what I do and to keep learning and improving  the whole time. I do not want to be static and formulaic over my career; I would like to be able to explore many different techniques and subjects and not be pigeon holed into a single genre. Oh and I also want to enjoy myself at the same time!”

Juliet Forrest’s burgeoning talent has been recognised in two prestigious awards from the Glaziers Company. In 2017-18 she won the Ashton Hill Award, which gave her the opportunity of a 10 week placement in a leading stained glass studio. This was followed in 2021 by winning First Prize in the Stevens Competition for her panel “Girl Power”. The winning design is shown above, and is an innovative two sheet design using bonding techniques.

Following her competition success Juliet Forrest was invited to join the panel of judges for the 2022 Stevens Competition.

 

The Worshipful Company of Glaziers and the Stevens Competition

The Worshipful Company of Glaziers first appears in written records in 1364-65 during the reign of Edward III, when the emphasis was on the protection of the personal economic welfare of Glaziers. However, in recent times the focus has shifted to the preservation of the heritage of stained glass and to the support of education in architectural glass art, design and conservation.

In 1932 the Company launched an annual competition for young artists, which from 1972 operated under the banner of the Stevens Competition. The competition provided an opportunity for aspiring architectural glass artists, designers, and craftsmen to compete in a format which simulated the process typically undertaken in order to obtain a commercial commission.