The Whittington Building, Frederick's Place, City of London
Address
The Whittington Building, Frederick's Place, City of London, EC2R 8JQTheme
Overview
The Stevens Competition is the premier competition for stained glass artists in the UK. It was founded in 1972 to provide an opportunity for aspiring architectural glass artists, designers, and craftsman to compete in a format which simulates the typical process to obtain a commercial commission. Entrants are required to develop a design to a specific client brief and provide Artistic and Technical Statements defining the concept behind their design and how the design would be realised.
In 1987 the Competition moved from theoretical locations to site specific locations, which allowed for the possibility, with the agreement of the sponsor, of a winning design to be realised.
Highlight
Two architectural glass panels installed in the reception areaArtist, maker and date
Designed by Cathy Lee and made in collaboration with the team at Piotr Frac Stained Glass, 2024Reason for highlighting
The 2023 Stevens Competition was a co-operation between the Glaziers’ Company and Mercers’ Company to source two architectural glass panels to be installed in the reception area of a major new office development by the Mercers’ Company.
The panels form a key design element in the reception area to the new complex which is finished to a high standard of contemporary design.
The panels show a weave of a cloth of gold which (on the right panel) descends into the streets of The City of London – paved with gold – as per Lord Mayor (and Mercer) Dick Whittington folklore. The Mercers Livery Hall is marked by a Mercer’s Maiden image ghosted on red glass. Also on the right panel the cloth is attached to the sheep’s golden fleece.
The sheep’s wool gave the Mercers means to provide future generations with opportunity. So, on the left panel a strand of the cloth is caught by a girl who has benefitted from the Mercer’s philanthropy and who reaches up to embrace her bright future.
The panels are partly inspired by The Wilton Diptych which was painted in the 1390’s, the same time the Mercers were granted their charter. The two City hills in the design (Ludgate and Cornhill) are decorated in the same background pattern as seen on a panel of The Wilton Diptych. The use of blue and gold, albeit a steelier blue, are also inspired by this medieval treasure. ‘Presenting’ and ‘receiving’ as a mutual benefit is a theme of both this and The Wilton Diptych.
Artist/maker notes
Cathy Lee has an extensive artistic background. She completed the ‘Art Foundation’ course at Chelsea College of Art in 1996/97. This provided her with a year of artistic experimentation. Many years later she received a MA in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. More recently she has taken classes at the King’s School of Traditional Art, mostly learning gilding techniques but also egg tempera, marquetry, geometry and wood inlay (which she finds “surprisingly similar to glazing”). She learned Heraldry at Reigate College of Art with Gerald Mynott and verre eglomisé with Rian Kanduth at City and Guilds of London Art School. She is currently studying for the Certificate / Diploma at the Royal School of Needlework. As this list suggests, she believe other arts and crafts can influence her glass practice.
Away from stained glass Cathy Lee works as a family mediator and a qualified London Guide (City, Westminster and Blue Badge). She also makes podcasts (having been a journalist) about unusual sites in London. She says a particular pleasure has been sharing the stained-glass treasures of the churches in the City of London with visitors. It is London; its people, geography and architecture, that inspires most of her stained glass work. The work she is presently designing focuses on social issues that she witnesses as a mediator and has experienced as a journalist.
Since 2018 her glass practice has been guided by the Piotr Frac Stained Glass Worksop in East London, which has allowed her to “quietly and enthusiastically study the transformative craft of glazing and painting”. The commission from the Mercer’s Company was her first major commission and she says it has “given me confidence and encouragement to illuminate windows for buildings and spaces that need them and to encourage others to break into (not literally) the world of stained glass.”