Sadie McLellan, The Creation window (2010), Orchardhill Pariish Church, Giffnock, East Renfrewshire.

Photo: Iain Galbraith

Orchardhill Parish Church, Giffnock, East Renfrewshire

Address

Orchardhill Parish Church, 12 Church Rd, Giffnock, Glasgow G46 6JR

Recommended by

Iain B Galbraith (10)

Highlight

South aisle - The Creation window

Artist, maker and date

Sadie McLellan, 1970

Reason for highlighting

This is one of three dalle de verre windows by Sadie McLellan in the south aisle. It portrays Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit in a dramatic palette of black and yellow, with hints of green foliage and a glowing red apple. This is also a sombre, foreboding window, a dark portent of things to come. Also to my mind there is a decadence within it which makes this a deeply unsettling window in its strange brilliance.

Other comments

Other notable stained glass windows in this early 20th century church, by H E Clifford, are

Gordon Webster’s Biblical Scenes, 1936
William Wilson’s west window of The Four Evangelists, 1966
John K Clark’s south aisle window on the theme of the Four Seasons, 1986

Artist/maker notes

Sadie Fadden McLellan (1914-2007) produced an exceptional body of work. A perfectionist by temperament, working always in solitary conditions, her output was significantly smaller than contemporaries such as William Wilson and Gordon Webster, yet it contains some of the most powerful and imaginative glass in twentieth century Scotland. Her husband, Walter Pritchard, was also a stained glass artist.

Source: Scotland’s Stained Glass Making the Colours Sing by Michael Donnelly (Historic Scotland, 1977)

For an appreciation see ‘The Stained Glass of Sadie McLellan: Reflections on Modernism’ by Sarah Alford in The Journal of Stained Glass, Vol. XXX, 2006

Highlighted dates at this location

1970 (Go to date search)