Sutton, Peter

Peter Sutton, detail from the Marienkapelle, St. Marien Church, Greifswald, Germany (2021)
Photo: Peter Sutton
Peter Sutton, detail from the Marienkapelle, St. Marien Church, Greifswald, Germany (2021)
Photo: Peter Sutton

Peter Sutton AMGP is a distinguished contemporary glass artist and painter, now living in Norway.

Peter studied at Norwich School of Art (1986-87) and Swansea College of Art (1988-91), where he was awarded four distinctions. While at Swansea he entered the Stevens Competition, which began a long association with the Glaziers Company.

Peter won the Stevens Competition in 1990 and still and remembers fondly coming to the Glaziers Hall for the prize giving, by train from Swansea. Then in 1996 he was awarded the first Glaziers Company Bursary to establish the Glaziers’ sponsored workshop at Ironbridge Gorge Museum, which ran for seven years.

In 2001 Peter moved to Norway, but maintained his links with the Stevens Competition as a member of the judging panel in 2010 and 2011.

Peter works both as a painter and architectural glass artist, and his works can be found many countries across Europe. Images from a recent commission for the Marienkapelle of the St. Marien Church, Greifswald, Germany are shown opposite. He was commissioned to design both the windows and the portal and floor. The interplay of light and architecture and the interaction of the viewer with the work of art are of particular importance to Peter, so glass, which in combination with light has a special effect on a room, is an ideal material. In addition, Peter also uses other materials in combination. For the north window of the Marienkapelle, for example, he installed two airbrushed and etched glass planes one behind the other, in the middle of which he placed wool felt “nails”. The glass work was made in collaboration with Derix Glasstudios.

 

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.