art form
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ouver

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Left: The Gilroys stand
A below their 300 sq.ft.
¥ / work located in a church in
y Kerrisdale, called "Resur-
i] rection’.

e§ Right: John Gilroy holds
«| cuts a pane of glass.

Say!

|

Top Right: A current Gilroy work of art
located in their studio in South Vancou-
ver.

Left: Ancient, thousand-year old tools
used by the artists to create their glass

South Vancouver

company is on the

cutting edge of modern-

izing a timeless medium
that has been practised and admired
for centuries.

Laura and John Gilroy, owners of
their company called Gilroy Stained
Glass, located on Barnard Street in
South Vancouver, still use ancient
techniques dating back centuries.

Eschewing modern computer
technology and doing everything by
hand allows the glass to react to light
streaming through it ina unique and
authentic way, according to Laura.

“Your style is what you introduce
into the painting,” John said.

They have been pushing the limits
of the form through their residential,
church and restoration projects.

‘The Gilroys said they manage to
do this while preserving the tradi-
tions of construction, enabling their
windows to be structurally sound in
all weather conditions.

The couple studied together, train-
ing under long-renowned James
Clark & Eaton, stained glass makers
in London, with lineage tracing back
to 1788.

They decided to move their family
and business from England to
Canada nearly 15 years ago, to focus
on the highest end of their craft.

John said proximity to nature is,
in part, what inspired them to move

to Vancouver, and much of their
commission work here expresses the
nature that is found in B.C.

‘Their traditional methods might
not be the quickest or easiest, but
with these practices, Laura said they
can cover a wide range of works,
anywhere from “genesis and old
testament” to Cuban themes.

They declined to discuss the cost
of their work, but said that some of
their works can take up to a year to
complete. The cost and timing all
depend on the size and the complex-
ity of the piece.

“Tt's all about the
way the artwork
makes you feel.”

—LAURA GILROY, ARTIST

The glass they use comes from
Europe, and their studio is one of
the few on the West Coast that still
uses historic materials throughout
the process of cutting the glass and
creating a window.

Gilroy Glass works with India
ink, watercolour and pencil, tools
that artists have worked with for
millennia.

Other local companies use
computerized print-based methods,

Photos and story by Gina Rogers

which Laura said “are nowhere near
as effective.”

Their preferred lime chalk, used
for drawing on sheets of glass, dates
back about a thousand years.

The Gilroys said this is the most
sustainable material today, due in
part to water contamination issues
with alternatives.

Local architect Walter Francl,
certified in Leadership in Envi-
ronmental Energy Design, believes
in the possibility of a stained glass
being made “compatible with the
thermal requirements of current
building technologies as they are
progressing.”

Laura said that in England they
didn’t get to create many new designs.
Many of the new work they did was
for the state but in Vancouver they
are able to create a new concept and
design for an entire church.

“We can basically control how the
art feels throughout the entire build-
ing and how it influences the congre-
gation and how the light comes in,”
she added.

Bigger projects that incorporate
their whole vision is something that
they get a lot more opportunity for in
Vancouver, according to Laura.

Traditionally made, Gilroy Glass
works are made to last hundreds of
years.

“Tt’s all about the way the artwork
makes you feel,” Laura said.