Newbury Spring Festival Window

Geoffrey Eastop

Geoffrey Eastop is an internationally known and collected potter.

The rabbit in the window is a reference to Richard Adams and 'Watership Down', where the story takes place on the Berkshire Downs in Ecchinswell . . . . where Geoffrey Eastop lives and works.

Paul Forsey and Jack of Newbury

Naturally, in a window about the cultural life of Newbury, I had to include myself - I couldn't really have another painter in it, could I? Behind the easel is a version of the brass of Jack of Newbury in St Nicolas Church, and a reference to the Newbury Mosaic.

Ebb and Flow

The first really big contemporary public art commission in the town was 'Ebb and Flow' by Peter Randall-Page. It is a 7 tonne granite bowl in which, by a series of pipes, the water rises and falls at the same time as the canal lock opposite. Here he is carving out the bowl.

In the background is St Nicolas Church.

Gerald Finzi

The Finzi's moved from Aldbourne to Church Farm in Ashmansworth at the outbreak of war in 1939. Gerald Finzi was a successful composer, orchestrator and teacher at The Royal Academy of Music. His works include 'For St Cecilia (tenor, chorus and orchestra), 'Earth and Air and Rain' (baritone and piano), 'Dies Natalis' (tenor/soprano and strings) and 'Farewell to Arms' (tenor and small orchestra).

Here he is seen as conductor of Newbury String Players as he did intermittently until his death in 1956.

Jacqueline du Pré

World famous cellist, child prodigy subject of the revelatory book and subsequent film 'Hiliary and Jackie'.

There is a prolific abundance of recordings by du Pré still available, check out the EMI website. Her life and career was tragically cut short by multiple scleroses, but she is still regarded by many as the greatest cellist in the history of recorded music. Jacqueline du Pré died in 1987 at the age of 42.

This is the initial clean drawing for the window. Note in the final version how the words, a reference to Elgars Cello Concerto, are edited and moved. Her appetite for male attention is well documented, and I was interested in the photographs of her playing in which she seems to pull the cello into herself, wrapping her legs around as if . . . I think it was Pollock that said that real genuis can be found on the ragged edge between sanity and insanity.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the most successful composer of the modern era. His compositions are Broadway smashes and household names - Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Starlight Express, The Phantom of the Opera . His first production of 'Joseph' was in 1968 and it has been described as "one of the most enduring and endearing shows of all time".

Joseph was originally written in 1967 for a school choir to perform at their Easter concert, and is about Jacob's favourite son Joseph, jealously regarded by his 11 brothers and sold into Egyptian slavery for 20 shekels of silver. He rose from this lowly position to become governor of all Egypt and took pity on his brothers when they came to buy food from Egypt in a famine.

Paddington Bear

A little known fact is that Michael Bond was born and grew up in Newbury, attending Presentation College in Reading (which incidentally is where Cardinal Cormack Murphy-O'Connor went).

I didn't know this about Michael Bond either until a little girl walked into the gallery where the residency was taking place and said "why don't you put Paddington Bear in the window?" This was an inspired piece of thinking which, naturally, I now tell everyone was my idea!

Lord Carnarvon and the tomb of Tutankhamun

Howard Carter and the 5th Earl of Carnarvon discover the entrance to the tomb of Tutankhamun in November 1922.

Cater had been in the employ of Lord Carnarvon for six seasons and this was to be his last dig, as others had been largely unproductive. Carter discovered the steps and entrance with seals in tact (i.e. no grave robbers had entered) in October. He subsequently covered it up again, cabled Lord Carnarvon and went shopping in Cairo until Carnarvon arrived some 3 days later. They then broke the seals and entered the tomb together.

Here we see Carter and Lord Carnarvon breaking the seals, with Anubis, God of embalming and guide into the Underworld, and an Ankh in the background.

The Newbury Spring Festival Window

The Spring Festival is an annual international music festival that takes place in Newbury. Although primarily music orientated, it also encompasses other creative mediums, especially visual arts. Each year the festival appoints a visual artist in residence that may run workshops, exhibit their work or create an entirely new piece during the festival.

For 2005, I was invited to be artist in residence, and to compliment the recently finished mosaic, commissioned to create a new 9 panel stained glass window design depicting the cultural life of Newbury. The window to be replaced was in the Town Hall, right in the centre of Newbury, and the proposal was to have the design ready to display on the eve of the final concert in the festival when all sponsors and trustees would be present.

Mark Eynon, the Festival Director, and I talked about the commission in what he described later as "a full and frank discussion". He disagreed with my initial ideas about one window in 9 panels and preferred 9 separate panels linked by a common theme and style. This, in the end, is how it turned out.

To accompany this work, there was an exhibition about the building of the mosaic at the Corn Exchange, the local theatre.

The drawing on the left shows the dimensions and layout of the window.

To maximise impact, a full sized mock up would be created and installed in position for the last weekend of the festival. This was quite a challenge.

Click on the panels to see a larger version and an explanation.
After you have started, you can click the refresh button on your browser to see this text again.