'Drawn to Light' - Grace Ayson (Wednesday 23 October, 7pm)

In this talk, Grace will take you on a journey charting her career so far, from her starting point as a sculptor, through her work as a conservator, to her work as a stained glass artist. Using past projects and commissions, she will explore the techniques and approaches she has used, her influences and inspirations, and ideas about the tradition and craft of stained glass.

Grace Ayson is a stained glass artist, designer and conservator based on the Kent coast in the UK. Her work combines striking modern draughtsmanship with traditional craft and technique. She has worked as an artist for many years, creating drawings concerned with light and its effects on architectural spaces. This interest in the living, moving effects of light and its impact on the viewer has found its ultimate expression in her work as a glass artist. Grace graduated with a fine art and sculpture degree in 1997, she then went on to work in sculpture and historic building and decorative surface conservation which eventually led her to a passion in stained glass. She has worked with stained glass for 20 years, including 15 years at The Cathedral Studios at Canterbury Cathedral, and set up her own studio in 2020. She creates windows and artworks for homeowners, interior designers, churches, public buildings and artworks for exhibition, combining a fresh modern approach with traditional techniques.

Grace’s work is informed by her background as an artist, making use of light, shadow, colour, mark making, surface texture, line and bold imagery to create striking modern designs. Using traditional skills of painting, etching and staining glass, she layers and combines abstract and graphic elements, translating the drawn image into glass to create artworks that grow beyond their roots in traditional craft and technique.

This talk will be delivered by Zoom. The link will be emailed to ticket holders prior to the event.