View From The Window / November 20, 2015 by Sasha Ward

If in doubt, I draw the view from the window. Last weekend (of the attacks) I was staying in a friend's flat in Paris, being very critical of the view from the windows on to the blank wall of a block of flats less than three metres away (drawing 1). However, as shown in drawing 2, we ruined the view from the bedroom window at home in Marlborough by building our tall studio in front of it. Looking at the little patch of sky that remains at top left, I remembered another sketchbook page (drawing 3) drawn from my bedroom at West Dean House last January, where I had to peer between the thick flint walls and the courtyard castellations to find my view.

drawing 1, Paris                                         drawing 2, Marlborough                    … — drawing 1, Paris. drawing 2, Marlborough. drawing 3, West Dean House, Sussex

drawing 4, Loch Lomond                                  drawing 5, Lewis                           … — drawing 4, Loch Lomond. drawing 5, Lewis. drawing 6, Berneray

There are window drawings in all of my sketchbooks, here I've chosen three Scottish ones from 2011 when I did a commission on the Isle of Lewis. On the way there was a hotel window near Loch Lomond, some tree tops and lots of sky visible (drawing 4). Then the ugly bungalow we stayed in on Lewis had only one high window facing south towards a magnificent view of The Minch (drawing 5) - invisible when you were sitting down at the kitchen table. Drawing 6 is a view from the kitchen window of the most beautiful place I have ever stayed, that is undisputedly the hostel on the Isle of Berneray.

Teaching Stained Glass / February 13, 2015 by Sasha Ward

Twentieth Century glass and stained glass lantern in The Oak Hall, West Dean House.

I always say that the inspiration for my own glass came from looking at examples of old stained glass. I worked out why certain techniques and design features were used and this enabled me to invent my own way of doing things using modern methods and contemporary imagery. When I teach short courses at West Dean College, as I did last week, I try and get my students to take the same approach using as examples the stained glass in West Dean House.

Windows representing the four seasons above the entrance doors, West Dean House.

Above the front door you find these beautiful women representing the four seasons. Their provenance is unknown to me; I concentrate on the pattern making in the background, the detailed clothing and the border. Rob Veck's panel below uses the same paints, iron oxide and silver stain, with a face and some patterns borrowed from another Pre-Raphaelite and her gown.

Detail from autumn window, West Dean.                                                        Rob's panel in p… — Detail from autumn window, West Dean. Rob's panel in progress at West Dean College.

The stained and enamelled fragments that patch windows and lanterns in The Oak Hall (top), are a great example of my favourite type of reassembled stained glass. I was very happy to have a fellow patchwork enthusiast, Jane Brocket, on my course for whom a different way of working with glass seemed to make sense. Below left is Jane’s work in progress, where pieces that she has sandblasted, painted and fired are combined with scraps from the off cuts box. I was reminded of panels made at the Bauhaus by Josef Albers, nothing pointlessly complicated here.