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Graeme Willson Honorary Fellow

Glass Making & Stained Glass

About Graeme
Graeme was originally trained in Fine Art and the History of Art at Reading University but has since gone on to develop a strong interest in Stained Glass and a number of other disciplines such as Textiles, Mosaic, Etched Glass and Ecclesiastical Furnishings. He has a considerable reputation in the field of public art, for example at York Minster and in the civic spaces of Leeds, such as the Leeds Corn Exchange. Much of his work came about as a result of ecclesiastical patronage, but also in the form of awards from the Arts Council of Great Britain and also the Royal Society of Arts.
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Graeme's training in Stained Glass came about through the studio of Ann Sotheran in York. He has also collaborated with and learnt much from the workshop of Martin Johnson, also based in York. This collaborative practice has now been in existence for over twenty years and completed many successful commissions across the country. Graeme's commissions for stained glass include works for the Dean's Chapel at St. Mary's, Warwick, the Great West Window at St' Laurence's Church, Rowington, 'The Light of the World' at St. Margaret Clitheroe, Haxby and 'Miners' at All Saints, Harworth. He has also completed etched glass doors for St. Margaret's in Ilkley and was award the RSA Award fir Collaboration on stained glass with Ann Sotheran and Nick.

Graeme lives and works in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

Resumé Back to top

Education

Reading University, Degree in Fine Art and History of Art

Part-time Lecturing Posts

1975 - Freelance painter and visiting lecturer at; Bradford & Ilkley Community College.

Chelsea College, London.

1979 - Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies, University of York.

Bretton Hall College

Chelsea College, Bretton Hall College, Yorks & Bradford College, Yorks.

Exhibitions (Solo)

1976 - Sloane St. Gallery, London

1980 - Cartwright Hall, Bradford College

1981 - St. Pauls Gallery, Leeds

1982 - Arcade Gallery, Harrogate

1983 - Hawksworth Gallery, Ilkley

1986 - Dean Clough Contemporary Art Gallery, Halifax

1987 - Hawksworth Gallery, Ilkley

1988 - Smith's Gallery, Covent Gardens, London (with Tom Wood)

1989 - RIBA Gallery, London

1989 - University of Bradford Gallery

1990 - University of Leeds Gallery

1992 - Bloomsbury Gallery, London

1995 - Assembly Rooms, York

1998 - ‘Picturing Sounds' Manor House Gallery, Ilkley (with Alan Flood)

2005 - The Process of Landscape' Lotherton Hall, Leeds

Mixed Exhibitions

1977 - Serpentine Gallery, London

1980 - National Portrait Gallery, London ('The New Look in English Portraiture')

1981 - Cartwright Hall, Bradford

1982 - Civic Art Gallery, Harrogate (Festival of Architecture)

1983 - Leeds Art Fair – annually

1984 - Francis Kyle Gallery, London and New York

1985 - Levitt Bernstein, London ('One Percent')

1986 - Leeds City Art Gallery ('Image Space Public')

1987 - ‘New Art in Yorkshire', St. Paul's Gallery, Leeds

1990 - Bluestone Gallery, California

1991 - Neville Gallery, London and Canterbury

1992 - London Contemporary Art Society, Covent Garden, London

1995 - Northern Prospects, Harewood House

2003 - Zilah Bell Gallery, Thirsk

2005 - Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham

Awards and Commissions

1977 - 1st Prize Art into Landscape Competition

1978 - Arts Council Award

1979 - Three Altarpiece Paintings for York Minster

1980/82 - Ceiling of St. Cuthbert's Chapel, York Minster

1983 - Royal Academy Award for Painting

1984 - Greater London Arts Association Award

1988 - Leeds Corn Exchange, Refurbishment

1989 - Provident Finance Group, Bradford College

1991 - Portrait of Sir John Harvey-Jones for Bradford University

1991 - Portrait of Sir William Taylor for Hull University

1991 - Forbes Collection, New York

1993 - RSA Award or Collaboration on stained glass with Ann Sotheran and Nick Rank, Architects (Se John's Church, Moston, Manchester)

1993 - Portrait of Professor Ian Ward, Leeds University

1994 - Leeds Award for Architecture

1995 - Private Chapel, Windsor Castle (reredos painting)

1996 - Wm. Morrison's Supermarkets, Murals and Stained Glass

2000 - Commissioned to undertake stained glass for the Dean's Chapel at St. Mary's Warwick.

2004 - 'Christ in Glory'. Great West Window, Stained Glass for St. Laurence, Rowington, Warwicks

2004 - Baptistry Painting, St. Margaret's Church, Ilkley

2007 - Etched Glass Angels, St. Margaret's Church, Ilkley

2010 - Stained Glass Commission 'the Light of the World' at St. Margaret Clitheroe, Haxby, Near York.

2017 - Stained Glass Commission, 'Miners' at All Saints, Harworth, Notts.

Residencies (Artist in Residence)

1987 - ‘Narrative Painting', Cartwright Hall, Bradford

1987 - ’Inside Out', Leeds Art Gallery

1989 - Ilkley Literature Festival

1990 - ’Virtue Rewarded', Leeds City Art Gallery

1996 - Ilkley Concert Club

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