JOAN GLASS
My mother was a designer of carpets and textiles during the middle years of the last century and was a member of the well known Great Bardfield art community during the 1950s.
The eldest child of Jack and Maisy Glass, Elizabeth Joan Glass was born in Kent, England in 1915. Her Australian-born father was a director (and later chairman) of the Scottish carpet manufacturer James Templeton & Sons, while her mother was a member of a family directly involved with the production of radio and electronics; Joan's great uncle Alexander Muirhead was, with partner Sir Oliver Lodge, the first to successfully transmit a radio message at Oxford University in 1894.
Joan became interested in art as a career during the mid-1930s. Her first interest was in theatrical scene-painting but she soon became absorbed by carpet and fabric design. By the end of the 1930s she was studying at Chelsea Polytechnic in west London. Chelsea was one of the leading art schools in London at the time and teachers included respected artists Graham Sutherland and Henry Moore, while the well-known dandy Quintin Crisp was one of her life models. At Chelsea Joan perfected her designs and many of her creations were purchased by textile manufacturers keen to source interesting designs from young artists.
During the war years Joan enlisted with the Women's Royal Navy Service (WReNS) and worked in censorship. During her war service she met Stanley Clifford-Smith and they started 'going out'. After the war the couple married and relocated to rural Suffolk. During the late 1940s she continued to design carpets as well as draw and paint.
By 1952 Joan and her husband were living in Great Bardfield in Essex, and she exhibited her work at the summer exhibitions organised by the well known Great Bardfield Artists. By 1962 the couple were living at historic Little Baddow Hall near Chelmsford. Around this time the demands of motherhood dominated, leaving Joan little time for her art, a pursuit she never really took up again.
Several years after the death of her husband in 1968, Joan established, in partnership with her son Jonathan, the Little Baddow Hall Arts Centre, which became one of the most important art venues in Essex. The centre was open through most of the 1970s and showed the work of many local and international artists and musicians. Intensely modest of her own artistic abilities she never showed her own work at the centre. In 1990 she relocated to a smaller house in Little Baddow and died in 2000. She was survived by four sons.
In 2010 some of Joan's work was included in the Women from Bardfield exhibition at the Fry Art Gallery. This well-received exhibition was the first show at the gallery to focus exclusively on the female members of the Great Bardfield art community. An informative essay by leading art historian Frances Spalding was included in the illustrated catalogue.
© Silas Clifford-Smith 2017
'Under Moonlight: a portrait of Stanley Clifford-Smith & Joan Glass' by Silas Clifford-Smith was published in early 2016
The eldest child of Jack and Maisy Glass, Elizabeth Joan Glass was born in Kent, England in 1915. Her Australian-born father was a director (and later chairman) of the Scottish carpet manufacturer James Templeton & Sons, while her mother was a member of a family directly involved with the production of radio and electronics; Joan's great uncle Alexander Muirhead was, with partner Sir Oliver Lodge, the first to successfully transmit a radio message at Oxford University in 1894.
Joan became interested in art as a career during the mid-1930s. Her first interest was in theatrical scene-painting but she soon became absorbed by carpet and fabric design. By the end of the 1930s she was studying at Chelsea Polytechnic in west London. Chelsea was one of the leading art schools in London at the time and teachers included respected artists Graham Sutherland and Henry Moore, while the well-known dandy Quintin Crisp was one of her life models. At Chelsea Joan perfected her designs and many of her creations were purchased by textile manufacturers keen to source interesting designs from young artists.
During the war years Joan enlisted with the Women's Royal Navy Service (WReNS) and worked in censorship. During her war service she met Stanley Clifford-Smith and they started 'going out'. After the war the couple married and relocated to rural Suffolk. During the late 1940s she continued to design carpets as well as draw and paint.
By 1952 Joan and her husband were living in Great Bardfield in Essex, and she exhibited her work at the summer exhibitions organised by the well known Great Bardfield Artists. By 1962 the couple were living at historic Little Baddow Hall near Chelmsford. Around this time the demands of motherhood dominated, leaving Joan little time for her art, a pursuit she never really took up again.
Several years after the death of her husband in 1968, Joan established, in partnership with her son Jonathan, the Little Baddow Hall Arts Centre, which became one of the most important art venues in Essex. The centre was open through most of the 1970s and showed the work of many local and international artists and musicians. Intensely modest of her own artistic abilities she never showed her own work at the centre. In 1990 she relocated to a smaller house in Little Baddow and died in 2000. She was survived by four sons.
In 2010 some of Joan's work was included in the Women from Bardfield exhibition at the Fry Art Gallery. This well-received exhibition was the first show at the gallery to focus exclusively on the female members of the Great Bardfield art community. An informative essay by leading art historian Frances Spalding was included in the illustrated catalogue.
© Silas Clifford-Smith 2017
'Under Moonlight: a portrait of Stanley Clifford-Smith & Joan Glass' by Silas Clifford-Smith was published in early 2016