The Royal Chapel, Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey
Address
Beaumaris Castle, Castle Street, Beaumaris, Anglesey. LL58 8APTheme
Overview
There are a number of artists who have contributed to this website through their individual selections of 10 fine examples of British stained glass. While all naturally refrained from recommending their own work in the 10 selected, they have been asked to choose a window of their own that they feel reflects their personal work. This is the selection of Rachel Phillips.
Highlight
Five windows in the Royal ChapelArtist, maker and date
Rachel Phillips and Linda Norris (Studio Melyn) 2017Reason for highlighting
Linda Norris and I began to collaborate in 2012 and made this work for the 13th century Beaumaris Castle in 2017. Commissioned as one of a number of multi-media interpretive art-works by CADW, the inspiration came from a number of sources including our visits to the castle and surrounding landscape and the experience of seeing a range of mediaeval stained glass, buildings and artefacts in North Wales.
‘Technically perfect and constructed according to an ingenious ‘walls within walls’ plan, Beaumaris Castle was the 13th-century hi-tech equivalent of a spaceship landing unceremoniously on Anglesey today’
Beaumaris Castle guide, CADW
We were both struck by the scientific and engineering-led design sophistication of the castle so neatly summed up in the quote above and wanted the windows to reference strong visual motifs such as the geometry and symmetry of the castle design- the final and unfinished flourish of Edward I’s castle building campaign.
Our work embraces the language of glass in both historic and contemporary ways to reflect and represent the castle’s identity as an exemplar of design excellence and cutting-edge technology of its time; a place of compelling beauty and site of successive displacement and dominance, activity and fallowness, re-discovery and use. It draws inspiration from the forms and motifs of mediaeval glass in conjunction with contemporary glass approaches and techniques in order to reference the particular history and legacy of Edward I in Wales.
We used the plan of the castle, large in scale and centralized within the window layout, as an underlying structure for the windows into which areas of colour and detail was placed. The patterns and colours reference medieval manuscripts, musical notation, coinage, heraldry and the marks of the masons who built the castle. All of these are worked into antique, flashed glasses with minimal sandblasting and fire polishing to return colour and richness to the beautiful carved chapel interior whilst referencing the modernity of the original castle design.
For more information about Beaumaris Castle see the official website at CADW – Beaumaris Castle
Artist/maker notes
Rachel Phillips is a stained glass artist whose practice is predominantly concerned with the use of glass in architecture. Specializing in traditional stained glass techniques Rachel has a particular interest in mediaeval glass painting. She has designed and made many architectural and stained glass commissions for churches and other public and private buildings across the UK, most recently completing the Resound window for the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Blewbury, Oxfordshire.
Rachel lectured for over 15 years at the internationally renowned Swansea School of Glass, UWTSD from which she graduated in 2000, specializing in glass painting and continues to deliver workshops and masterclasses around the country.
In 2016 she and her long-time creative partner, Linda Norris, formed Studio Melyn to facilitate their increasing body of collaborative projects which has included windows for two World Heritage sites, Conwy Castle and Beaumaris Castle.
Further information: Rachel Phillips Glass , Linda Norris and Studio Melyn
Comments by
Rachel Phillips