The Anglican parish of St. John the Evangelist was established in 1864 in what has become known as London’s Old North community just along the north edge of the city’s downtown core. The present church, built at the corners of St. James and Wellington Streets in 1888 is now part of the Bishop Hellmuth Heritage District. The building has remained relatively intact since its inception. Based on the English Gothic-revival style, complete with an accompanying spire (1897), over the past 133 years, the congregation has gathered under the building’s hammer beams that support a well-crafted timber roof. Along the walls of the apse (1927), southern wall, and northern side aisle (1952-56) are over twenty stained glass windows, with others located throughout the complex.[1]  In this catalogue, we will focus on at least one work by all the studios who worked at St. John’s along with the artistic works created by González.

The first section of this catalogue contains information about González’s engagement with the sights and sounds of St. John’s. This is followed by Kazi’s important discussion of Yvonne Williams.  As mentioned, William’s work marks an aesthetic and social shift in the production of stained glass at St. John’s and Canada at large. Following this analysis, Kazi and I briefly offer information about many of the windows at St. John’s.

Before moving into a discussion of these various artistic features, a bit more can be shared about the parish. It is among the oldest worshiping communities in London and over the past century, St. John’s has become an essential part of the built and social environments of the city. St. John’s facilities have over 26,000 yearly visitors, including one of London’s longest-running meal programs—the Saturday Night Hospitality Dinner—which has been serving between 150 to 200 meals to some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens every Saturday for over 20 years, and this program has continued during the Covid-19 pandemic. The parish’s facilities also serve as a community voting station and are used by many groups including Alcoholic Anonymous, Over Eaters Anonymous, Al-Anon, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and Speech Disorder support groups, youth programs including Sparks, Brownies, Cubs, Beavers, Girl Guides, and Scouts, and numerous other social engagements such as receptions, concerts, and events. Thus, the parish and its building are a small hub for the approximate 20,000 people of the Bishop Hellmuth Heritage District and the downtown core. This exhibition recognizes these important contributions while also envisioning the sights and sounds of St. John’s in new artistic and conceptual contexts.

Sunlight has been a constant element in my body of work ever since I took my first photograph. The sunlight’s ephemerality and movement throughout the day made me conscious of appreciating the small gestures that this natural resource could provide me as a visual artist. When I see the sunlight playing across a wall, my instant reflex is to place my hand between the light and the wall. I would see the performance of light on my hand and feel the warmth of it as it slipped over my fingers. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I would have a camera in my other hand and capture the light’s movement. The event is never the same and sooner than you think, it will disappear. I think about time and the ephemeral events in my life when I participate in those lighting dances.

How can I document such a sense using photography?

During the summer of 2020, Dr. Cody Barteet employed me to document the art present in St. John’s church. That summer was the first time I visited the church, and the stained-glass windows captured me. The colours, textures, and iconography were mesmerizing. I would frequently sit on the pews and absorb all the visual elements that I could to document them that summer. Throughout this process, John Berger’s ideas about seeing came to life.

“We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice.”

I then choose to see the artistry of the stained-glass windows and the tiny evidence of its human creation. I saw glass hands touching, clouds, wood, birds, and small-scale textures on the figures’ fabrics. I wanted to look closer at these details, so I approached the windows. This act of approach reminded me of editing photographs. I approach the stained-glass windows in much the same way I would zoom in on a photo; to examine, retouch and absorb the fine details of a work. I firmly believe that through the details, a great piece is made, and I could see the stained-glass artists followed that notion as well. During this process of observation, I saw the sunlight reflections from the stained glass. Some were on the walls and others on the benches. Documenting another artist’s artwork is one type of time travel. You see how the artwork interacts with the space and identify how the artist’s material decisions during its creation impact the present—an interesting conversation between the present and the past through materiality and space.

Anahí González. Nave Showing NT Lyon Windows. St. John the Evangelist, London Ontario (Photograph: Anahí González).

While photographing the stained-glass windows, plaques, wood details, and spending hours at St. John’s, I was immersed in the space. I then began to understand the relationship between the stained-glass windows and the sunlight. The reflections caused by such a relationship created lighting dances on the walls that lasted minutes or hours and made me think about my ideas about time from the sunlight’s ephemerality. On some days, there were many reflections from different windows, creating a symphony of lights. After interacting with the art and space, I started thinking about the event of documenting and my role as a photographer in this project. I began to audio record the environmental sound from the outside, which included the church bells and street noises. I filmed some of the light reflection dances on the wall. Documenting is an event where I could bring the past, the experiences, the lived experience here and there, and the collectivity of St. John’s art using not only photography but audio elements as well.

Anahí González. Detail: Woman with Spinning Wheel. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario (Photograph: Anahí González).

The months passed and I continued visiting St. John’s, with my camera and recorder. I documented the seasonal changes that occurred in the building. I began to perceive St. John’s building as a performer. The building itself had a relationship with its surroundings, as its stained-glass windows had with sunlight. The building and stained-glass windows harmonically connect with the warm light and yard’s flora and fauna during the summer. The birds sang and the neighbours strolled on the sidewalk, conversing with the church’s bells. The warm light and sounds filled St. John’s with life. However, during the winter, the building and stained-glass windows stayed still and quiet. The birds stopped singing outside. There were no lighting dances on the walls.

‘Symphony of Lights’ was the name we chose to showcase the research and art made about St. John’s art. The title encompassed the artistic and cultural history of the building and the research concerning it. When thinking about the curational process and the gallery where we would hold the exhibition, Yvonne Williams quote fragment resonated in us:

“To paint a window so that it accepts this ‘partnership with the sun.’”

Artlab Installation. Artlab, The University of Western Ontario, London (Photograph: Anahí González).

The Artlab Gallery, which hosted the exhibition, welcomed the viewers with a forceful recording of an organ played by Paul Stanley. It was important for us to situate our viewers in a space that echoes the building’s ambiance to our own. The exhibition held photographed documentation of stained-glass close-ups to enhance the artistry of Meikle Stained Glass Studio, Sunrise Studios, Yvonne Williams, and Robert McCausland Limited. When entering the space, one of the essential pieces of the exhibition was the re-construction and digital animation of the light reflections in St. John’s into the gallery. Two digital animations were made for the exhibition, where each one had different elements from a variety of windows from Christopher Wallis, Meikle Stained Glass Studio, and Robert McCausland Limited.

During my time documenting St. John’s, I was able to see the lighting reflections of these windows, which motivated me to create this digitalization. With the idea that stained-glass windows come to life with every passing cloud or leaves, the reconstruction and digital animation of the symphony of lights reflected into the gallery was crucial. The animations were immersive, making them more prominent than the ones in St. John’s. Akin to the action of me placing my hand between the sunlight to feel the light fold across my fingers, my intention with this piece was to create an enveloping cue for the viewers before they could see the rest of the exhibit. Thus, creating an ephemeral event within the gallery space.

Just like the stained glass artists and studios, we were fascinated by the relationship that sunlight has with this artform. We explored the play between digital photography and sound to connect the church’s ambiance, reinforcing a line of contact from the past to our own. The combination of modern technology and historical art allowed us through Symphony of Lights to reimagine and explore the vitality of the living light created by the stained-glass windows of St. John’s for the viewing experience of London’s community.

^{Artist’s tour of the exhibition by Anahí González. (Video: Artlab Gallery).}

Hal Bakley, “Williams at Work in Her Studio: A Bold, Imaginative Use of Form and Color.” The City Sunday Star, April 23, 1978 (Photograph: public domain).

Sunlight actually becomes part of a window; for while a painting is made visible by light falling on its surface, stained glass is revealed by outdoor light passing through the glass to the interior of the building. To paint a window so that it accepts this “partnership with the sun,” and is responsive to every passing cloud – even to the sparkle of light reflected from leaves moving in the wind, is to give it its full interest. It is then alive, and leaving the class of static art, becomes something not only in Space, but in Time.

   — Yvonne Williams

A leader, educator, and one of the first women to establish her own career in the male-dominated practice of twentieth-century Canadian stained glass, Yvonne Williams (1901-1997) forged a distinct and influential style that contributed to the development of modern stained glass in North America.

Yvonne Williams was born on September 9, 1901 in Port of Spain, Trinidad to Canadian parents, John Sewell Williams and Elizabeth Catherine Kilgour Lockery. She later attributed her love of colour to her childhood on the tropical island. She showed interest in art at an early age, as she began “modelling in clay and plasticine” as a child. Later, from the ages of ten to sixteen, she took part in the Royal College of Art School programme, which she remembered “more as a development of seeing rather than expressing.”[1] In 1918, her family moved to Canada and settled in Grimsby, Ontario.[2] She enrolled at the Ontario College of Art (now Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD)) in 1922 to study sculpture but soon moved to painting because she “missed the colour terribly.”[3] She painted with the likes of Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley, and J.E.H. MacDonald and won the Governor General’s Gold Medal for excellence in life drawing and design. Williams’ increasing interest in stained glass led her to stay an additional year after her graduation to focus on metal and glass art with instructor Edith Grace Coombs (1890 – 1986). She graduated from college in 1926.

Her decision to pursue a career as a stained glass artist was, as she stated, “a peculiar choice for a career in 1927; more so for a woman, and even more so in Canada.”[4] She made her first window at Pringle & London Glaziers in Toronto in 1926 in partnership with the craftsman George London.[5] He later joined her workshop, and the two had a life-long working relationship. In the winter of 1927, Williams began work at the studio of F. J. Hollister, a prominent Toronto-based stained glass artist, but she soon moved on to study in studios in St. Louis and Philadelphia.[6] Initially, she struggled to establish her practice but after a six-month trip to England, France, and Italy, she returned home with the intent of receiving formal training in stained glass design. From 1928 to 1930, she apprenticed in Boston in the studio of Charles Connick (1875-1945), a well-known painter, muralist, and stained glass designer who championed the ideals of the Gothic Revival and whose style she emulated in her early works.[7] The two shared similar ideas about stained glass and Connick became a guiding figure throughout her life.

Following her return to Toronto, Williams opened her first studio in 1934 with Esther Johnson in a house she rented from Arthur Lismer,[8] whom she met at OCAD. She initially struggled to launch her career. With the deprivations of the Depression and competition from bigger commercial studios, Williams did artistic odd jobs and window decorating to make ends meet.[9] Interestingly, in her article with Jeffrey Kraegel, “In Partnership with the Sun: The Life and Work of Yvonne Williams,” glass artist Sarah Hall stated that “Yvonne claimed that the Great Depression was a good time to start a studio. Architects weren’t very busy, and had ample time to view her portfolio.”[10] Williams’ demonstration of stained glass techniques at the Canadian National Exhibition piqued the interest of an architect, Bruce Brown, who commissioned her to do two small windows in the Necropolis Chapel at Riverdale Cemetery, Toronto. This was followed by a commission for a window at Holy Rosary Church, Toronto and a growing number of commissions. As her reputation grew and the economy picked up, business got steadily better and by 1948, there was a two-year waiting list for her windows.

With a rising number of commissions, Williams designed and built a large studio on 3 Caribou Road in North Toronto in the late 1940s.[11] The Yvonne Williams Studio was in operation for nearly thirty years and produced over four hundred commissions for both public and private buildings – churches, schools, hospitals and residences – across the country from British Columbia to North West Territories.[12] The studio was recognized in and outside the industry for the high standard of quality of its productions. For example, writing in Mayfair 1954, Robert Fulford stated, “She stands as the Canadian leader of a school that is pushing stained glass past its traditional boundaries into the rewarding fields of symbolism and impressionism.”[13] The studio was also recognized in the Canadian stained glass community for its unique organization in a fashion akin to the European Art and Crafts glass houses, a departure from the strict hierarchy and sharply defined tasks of a traditional glass studio.[14] Many of the Williams Studio commissions were done collaboratively or by a single artist. Hall explains:

Artists working at the studio could also execute their own commissions there, with complete autonomy. Although the designs, cartoons and glass painting were done by the artists, the cutting, glazing and installations were done by craftsman George London. . .  In dividing up the work at the studio, Yvonne relied on her magic formula, which was based on percentages for each part of the job of making a window. Thus the artist who cartooned a work would be paid for that part, while another would receive the portion for the painting, and so on.[15]

Williams invited artists such as Ellen Simon, Gustav Weisman, Rosemary Kilbourn, and Stephen Taylor to collaborate with her on numerous commissions, thus providing indispensable training and experience to younger artists.[16]

In addition to stained glass design, Williams was notable for her written works[17] on the value of creative stained glass and was in demand as a public speaker and educator. In the interest of engaging people in the artistic and studio process, she gave tours of her studio and invited clients and students to see how the work was produced.[18] “Through education, practice and evolution, Yvonne attained a distinct cohesion of technique and inspired artistic vision.”[19] Williams made no apology for what she called, “the egocentricity of artists.” She stated: “For stained glass artists, it’s the necessity to exist in divisions: half fine art and half handicraft; half philosophy and half business.”[20]

Yvonne Williams, Nativity. Canadian Museum of History, 1942 (Photograph: public domain).

Although Williams’ commissions were largely of figurative compositions for religious sites, she created significant works for secular and private buildings. Regardless of the subject or the location, Williams maintained her high standards, experimented with abstract designs, and stressed the importance of “a partnership with the sun” for the project’s success; “It is then alive, and leaving the class of static art, becomes something not only in space, but in time.”[21] Williams’ artwork was highly influential in the development of modern stained glass in Canada. Firsthand observations of Medieval stained glass and the Gothic revivalist style of her mentor, Connick, inspired her early work in the 1930s and 1940s. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, her “windows show a continuous progress over the years, moving through various painting techniques, while the designs themselves move progressively towards abstraction.”[22] In her illustrious career, she brought attention to stained glass as a medium expressing the ideas of contemporary society.

Williams’ innovative style and works in buildings throughout Canada have been recognized in the artistic and architectural communities. This brought her several prestigious awards, including the Allied Arts Medal from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and in 1965, election to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[23] In 1975, samples of her work were included in A Tribute to Ten Women Artists, an exhibition organized by the Sisler Gallery, Toronto, that featured other notable artists such as Paraskeva Clark, Yvonne McKague Housser, and Doris McCarthy.[24] In 1976, one of William’s stained glass designs was used for the twenty-cent stamp, and in 1997, her depiction of the nativity scene was printed on the fifty-two cent Christmas stamp. The 1976 stamp is on display in the stamp collection gallery at the Canadian Museum of History.

Canada Post. “20 cent Stamp, featuring Yvonne Williams.” Brochure, 1975 (Photograph: public domain).

Her hundreds of commissions, her many awards, her pioneering reputation – all of these reveal a woman with a vision and the determination to follow it through. Underlying it all was profound artistry and an understanding and love for light and colour.[25] Even after her retirement, Williams continued to design windows and maintained an active interest in the work and ideas of younger artists following her pioneering career work.[26] She died on September 25, 1997, in Parry Sound, Ontario at the age of 96.

Yvonne Williams, “Portrait.” From Williams, “Some Speculations on the Future of Stained Glass: A Canadian View.” Stained Glass (Spring 1944): 24.

Selected Public Commissions

Alberta:

Edmonton, AB, Robertson United Church

British Columbia:

Vancouver, BC, St. John’s Church

Vernon, BC, Vernon Preparatory School [Now Coldstream Meadows Retirement Community]

Manitoba:

Winnipeg, MB, River Heights Church

Newfoundland and Labrador:

St. John’s, NL, St. Patrick’s Church

Northwest Territories:

Aklavik, NT, All Saints Cathedral

Ontario:

Burlington, ON, Wellington Square United Church

Cobourg, ON, St. Andrew’s Church

Hamilton, ON, Divinity School Chapel, McMaster University

Hamilton, ON, St. Patrick’s Church

Newtonbrook, ON, St. John’s Convalescent Hospital [Now St. John’s Rehab at Sunnybrook]

Oakville, ON, The John Bell Chapel at Appleby College

Timmins ON, St. Matthew’s Cathedral

Toronto, ON, Calvary Baptist Church

Toronto, ON, The Anglican Church of the Transfiguration

Toronto, ON, Loretto Abbey College and School [Now Loretto College School]

Toronto, ON, Deer Park United Church [Now at 26 Delisle Avenue, Toronto, Ontario]

Toronto, ON, Holy Rosary Church

Toronto, ON, Kingsway-Lambton United Church

Toronto, ON, Necropolis Chapel, Riverdale Cemetery

Toronto, ON, Sisters of Notre Dame [Demolished]

Toronto, ON, St. Bernard’s Hospital [Now St. Bernard’s Residence]

Toronto, ON, St. Michael of All Angels

Toronto, ON, St. Michael’s Hospital Chapel

Toronto, ON, The Church of St Peter and St Simon-the-Apostle

Toronto, ON, Strachan Hall, Trinity College

Uxbridge, ON, Foster Memorial

Waterdown, ON, Notre Dame Academy [Closed in 1983]

Windsor, ON, St. Aidan’s Anglican Church

York Mills, ON, St. John’s Anglican Church

Quebec:

Montreal, QC, Church of the Ascension

Montreal, QC, Knox Crescent Kensington and First Presbyterian Church

Montreal, QC, St. Phillips Knox Kensington and Church of the Transfiguration

Selected Awards

1926-27, Ontario College of Art Medal

1927, Governor General’s Gold Medal for Excellence in Life Drawing and Design

1955, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Allied Arts Medal

Selected Memberships

1957, Associate Member, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

1964, Member, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

1966, Canadian Handicrafts Guild

Selected Articles

Bibliography

On March 25, 2021, Christopher Wallis passed away. Born in Earsfield, London, England on August 4, 1930, Wallis attended the Hammersmith School of Fine Arts and Crafts and trained for four years in the stained glass studio of Martin Travers and Lawrence Lee. In 1956, Wallis immigrated to Canada and began his career at Edwards Glass Company. Wallis had a prolific career in his adopted country: he was a Fellow for The British Society of Master Glass Painters and a Fellow for The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada as well as a Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Wallis achieved these honours due to a tremendous career through which he designed and created over 800 windows for commissions throughout Canada. Wallis’ work was shown in Expo 67 and two windows were unveiled in Rideau Hall by Queen Elizabeth II in 1992. Wallis received many rewards throughout his lifetime including the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada medal for his enormous contributions to Canadian artistic culture. In 2003, Wallis’ windows for St. Stephen’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Calgary and St. John’s United Church in Arva (Ontario) were used for Canada Post’s international stamp series.

Throughout the London and Grand Bend regions, Wallis produced many windows including the large west window at the Metropolitan United Church and fifty windows for the cathedral of St. Peter’s Basilica, the seat of the Catholic Diocese of London. For St. John’s Wallis created ten windows: The Good Shepherd, The Virgin and Child, the three windows of the Symbols of Our Faith, St. Luke and St. Peter, The Resurrection, The Nativity, and In the Beginning.

Bibliography

Christopher Wallis, The Good Shepherd. St, John the Evangelist. London, Ontario, 1983 (Photograph: Anahí González).

The Good Shepherd

Christopher Wallis, 1983

“To the Glory of God & In Loving Memory of Archdeacon Clarence W. Foreman, Rector 1935-67”

Dedicated March 20, 1983

Donated by his family

The Christian concept of the Good Shepherd derives from Luke (15:3-7) and John (10:1-18), and is associated with the notion of Christ as a Shepherd who guides his flock to divine salvation. The earliest translation of the subject into the visual arts is found in ancient catacomb imagery through the fifth and sixth centuries. Typically, the scene is rendered either with Christ as a shepherd among a flock of sheep or as the shepherd carrying a sheep on his shoulder. The St. John’s images of the “Good Shepherd” narrative adopts the latter format, of a young standing Christ, carrying a sheep on his shoulders. Like many early Christian images, the pictorial representations derive from Roman artistic traditions. In this instance, from images of Mercury who is the guardian of flocks and at times is represented carrying a ram.

The center of the window depicts the Good Shepherd with his crook and carrying a lamb upon his shoulders. He is flanked by the Greek symbols of “Alpha” and “Omega.” Above the shepherd is the Crown of Heaven that radiates divine light across the scene. At the lower right and left corners are the instruments of teaching or shepherding the flock to salvation: a chalice with the wafer and the Bible.  The instruments were used by clergy in their ministry of the Eucharist to the Christian flock.

As St. John’s historian Elizabeth Spicer notes, “[t]he symbols in the window speak to us of the ministry of Archdeacon Foreman in our midst. The crown at the top represents the risen Christ who still exercises his ministry of shepherding those faithful to him. The open Bible and the chalice with the host speak to us of the ‘tools of shepherding’ so faithfully used by the Archdeacon.”[1]

In 1935 Rev. Clarence Foreman moved to London where he would serve at the Parish of St. John the Evangelist. Born on September 5, 1893, Foreman graduated from Huron College in 1915. Soon thereafter he was made a deacon in 1916 and became a priest in 1917. Foreman joined the chaplaincy service of the Canadian Army and served overseas in World War I. After his service, Foreman served as rector for parishes in Waterloo and Walkerville before his tenure at St. John’s. In 1946 Foreman was appointed canon of the St. Paul’s Cathedral (London) and was appointed Archdeacon of Middlesex in 1948.

Archdeacon Foreman was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Huron College in 1956.

Christopher Wallis, The Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. St, John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1963 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Symbols of Our Faith

Christopher Wallis, 1963

“To the Glory of God and in Memory of Mrs. E.C. ‘Frances’ James, 1882-1960. Unveiled June 16, 1963.”

The triptych-style windows in the south choir allegorically illustrate the Symbols of Our Faith: “The Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist,” “The Birth, Passion, and Victory of Christ,” and “The Witness of St. John the Evangelist.” The three windows, each in its own hue, are dedicated to the principal foundations of the Christian Church and to the parish’s patron saint. All three windows adopt the same patterning: an upper quatrefoil motif and three “X” patterns that are present across the horizontal lower band of each window.

The yellow or golden window of “The Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist,” depicts a dove as the icon of the Holy Spirit. The lower scenes, from left to right, depict icons of the scallop or half shell, an equilateral triangle, and the chalice with the host. Each object has holy symbolism: the chalice with the wafer (or host) symbolizes the act of the Eucharistic. The triangle is a symbol of the Holy Trinity while the shell is an age-old reference to the baptismal act.

Christopher Wallis, The Birth, The Passion, and The Victory of Christ. St, John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1963 (Photograph: Anahí González).

The window of “The Birth, Passion, and Victory of Christ” is made in blue tints. The central panel depicts the Lamb of God and holds the banner of resurrection (colours red and blue). The lower icons represent the five-pointed star that indicates the Nativity or the Epiphany. It is followed by the Crown of Thorns and the Crown of Heaven. The simply rendered images allude to the Life of Christ: his birth, his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his eventual accession into heaven.

Christopher Wallis, The Witness of St. John the Evangelist. St, John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1963 (Photograph: Anahí González).

The final window is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist and is made of red tones. The center scene depicts John’s attribute of the eagle. Below the eagle are images of John’s monogram “JS”, the chalice, and a book relating to John’s evangelic mission and the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation.

Christopher Wallis, In the Beginning. St, John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1977 (Photograph: Anahí González).

In the Beginning  

Christopher Wallis, 1977

“In Memory of Gordon W.H. Bartman”

Dedicated April 24, 1977

Donated by his family.

Of Wallis’ numerous contributions to the church, his window depicting the Genesis story of the creation of the heavens and earth is among the more dynamic and visually complex windows at St. John’s. As Wallis wrote for the church’s records:

The concept of the window is based on the text ‘In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth.’ To capture the mystery of the event I have chosen to represent a stylized Heaven and Earth with a unique and mystifying Sun as the focal point. The golden Sun, symbolic of Christ and Divinity, has at its centre a six-pointed star, the star of creation, symbolizing divine power, majesty, wisdom, love, mercy and justice. In the Heavens are twelve stars that, in Christian symbolism, refer to the Twelve Apostles, and in their more extended meaning represent the entire Church. The rays of light descending from the moon and spreading out across the water suggest the transition from darkness to light.[2]

The window is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Bartram. Bartram was a significant contributor to St. John’s operations and author of its first history of the parish, written in 1960 was published in 1963 by St. John’s to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church’s founding.[3] Further, Bartram was an important participant in the London Middlesex Historical Society and the London branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

McCausland is the oldest surviving stained glass studio in North America with five generations of the family overseeing the work of the firm from 1856 to the present. The founder of the studio, Joseph McCausland was born to Anglican parents in County Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1828. Joseph would earn a reputation as being a leading decorator, painter, and designer and manufacturer of stained-glass windows until his death in Toronto in 1905. In 1835, McCausland’s family immigrated to Canada when Joseph was seven years old. He received his training in Toronto and was a practicing artisan by the age of eleven. He founded the company in 1856. The bookkeeping records of the firm, reveal that McCausland’s first assignment was a stained glass window for the chapel of Holy Trinity Church in downtown Toronto.

The studio quickly found success in a period of growth of churches in the burgeoning city and province. Over the years, McCausland expanded every area of his business and began to break down the monopoly held by European stained glass windowmakers. In fact, the studio, albeit on rare occasions, sent Canadian-made windows to churches in Germany and England. The McCauslands won the top award for their exhibit at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893.

In 1897, the stained glass department of McCausland became a separate company run by Joseph’s eldest son, Robert. The painting and decorating business was inherited by Joseph’s son, Frank Herbert, who was the president of the firm from 1901 to 1940.

Bibliography

Burns, Patrick.  “Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, founded 1857.” Institute for Stained Glass on Canada. https://www.glassincanada.org/news/article-2/.

Hamilton, Alice and Douglas Richardson. “McCausland, Joseph.” In Dictionary of  Canadian Biography. Vol. 13. University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mccausland_joseph_13E.html.
History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario. vol 1, Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, 1885.

McStay, Angus. “Windows to Glory: Maclean’s: December 1, 1947.” Maclean’s. December 01, 1947. https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1947/12/1/windows-to-glory.

Spicer, Elizabeth. Trumpeting Our Stained Glass: The Church of St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario. London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008.

Joseph McCausland Limited and Robert McCausland Limited, “Chancel.” St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1888 and 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González). Ray Robinson, Reredos. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1977-1978 (Photograph: Anahí González).

The Good Shepherd

Joseph McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1888

“Our Late Rector the Very Reverend Michael Boomer, Dean of Huron, Who Entered into Rest A.D. 1888”

Donated by the Ladies’ Aid

Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, is clothed in regal purple, gold, and red clothes. He holds a lamb and a shepherd’s staff. The lamb has a branch of a thorn bush caught in the fleece of its flank to depict a lost sheep being found. In a quatrefoil motif directly below the Christ figure is a gold eagle, a symbol of St. John the Evangelist. The dove of the Holy Ghost is in a blue panel above Christ. The Greek symbols of Alpha and Omega, symbolizing the beginning and the end, are on either side of the dove.

In 1936 the window was modified as windows of John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary were added. As Spicer noted, the original windows were scriptural medallions.[1] At this time, we have not been able to find information relating to the original compositions. Nevertheless, The Good Shepherd is the oldest extant work in Canada by Joseph McCausland Company.

Central Window: Joseph McCausland Limited, The Good Shepherd. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1888 (Photograph: Anahí González). Flanking Windows: Robert McCausland Limited, St. John the Baptist and The Blessed Virgin Mary. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Michael Boomer was born in Hill Hall, Lisburn, Ireland, on January 1, 1810. He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin, earning his B.A. in 1834. After migrating to Canada, he became ordained in 1840 and was sent by Bishop John Strachan of the old Diocese of Toronto to a mission in Galt, where he served for 32 years.

At the age of 62, he became the Principal of Huron College, where he worked from 1872 to 1885. While there he served the congregation in the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist, where it had its first home, and again when it moved to the chapel of the new Chapter House of the planned Cathedral of the Holy Trinity of November 2, 1873. In 1877, Boomer presided over the organizational meeting of The University of Western Ontario at Christ Church and the following year, with the grant of the Charter, became the first President of the University until 1885, when ill health forced him to retire from both Western and Huron College. [2] He died in 1888.

The pristine quality of Robert McCausland’s work (1856-1923) solidified the McCausland firm’s reputation in stained glass. After extensive study in England and Europe, Robert returned to Toronto to become the chief designer and in 1881, partner in his father, Joseph’s stained glass studio. After the stained-glass department of the McCausland firm was made a separate company under Robert in 1897, the first commission Robert worked on his own was a large window in Toronto’s third City Hall. The studio rose in prominence and, given the McCauslands’ Anglican faith, became the preferred Canadian stained glass maker for Anglican and occasionally Roman Catholic churches in Ontario. Robert’s connection with leading studios and their designers in England lead numerous highly skilled English-trained artists, members of the prestigious British Society of Master Glass Painters, to work for McCausland.

Five generations of McCauslands have overseen the work of the firm: Joseph (active 1850-1896); Robert (active 1897-1923); Alan (active 1923-1952); Gordon (active 1952-1968); and Andrew (active 1969–present). Many of the artists, like Nathaniel Theodore Lyon and William Meikle, worked for McCausland before venturing into their own successful studios.

Bibliography

“About Us”. Robert McCausland Limited. 2014. https://www.eternalglass.com/.

Burns, Patrick.  “Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, founded 1857.” Institute for Stained Glass on Canada. https://www.glassincanada.org/news/article-2/.

“Stained Glass Windows.” Pages of Weston History. http://omeka.tplcs.ca/omeka_weston/exhibits/show/architecture/stained-glass-windows.

Robert McCausland Limited, Christ Blessing the Children. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1932 (Photograph: Anahí González).  

 Christ Blessing the Children

Artist: Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1932. Releaded October 18, 1980.

Dedication: “To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of Stephen Grant, 1847 – 1923, and of His Wife Julia Christian, 1846-1932. Erected by Their Children, 1932.”

The diptych windows depict the story of Christ blessing the children from the Gospels, which is connected to the debate concerning whether children should be blessed prior to confirmation within the Christian traditions. According to the story, mothers and fathers present their children to Christ for blessing but his disciples raise objections as shown by Peter and John’s attempts to disperse them from being blessed. Indeed, in the windows, John can be seen making a gesture towards Christ, while Peter recoils a hand to his mouth in disapproval. Christ counters the disciples’ objections with the famous quote from Matthew 19:14, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The subject was complicated further during the Protestant Reformation. Scenes of the subject were popularized by Lucas Cranach the Elder, a good friend of Martin Luther, as a commentary on the Catholic traditions and as a depiction of the theme of the free dispensation of divine grace, an essential part of Lutheranism.

Robert McCausland Limited, East Window: Christ Blessing the Children. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1932 (Photograph: Anahí González).

On the left, three small children with their parents are being presented to Christ to be blessed. On the right, Christ receives the children, as shown by a small child clothed in gold. Typical of McCausland’s style, the background contains trees and other natural elements along with canopies on top of and borders around the window.

Robert McCausland Limited, St. John the Evangelist and St. Luke. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González). 

Saint Luke

Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1936

“To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of Our Father, Arthur Stephen Blackburn, 1869 – 1935 and Mother, Etta Irene Henderson, 1882 – 1931.”

Unveiled: February 28, 1937

Donors: Miriam and Walter Blackburn

Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, carries the book of his Gospel in one hand. As the patron saint of artists and physicians, he holds the staff of Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing. Luke was a companion of Paul and mentioned in the letters of Paul as the “beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). Along with connections with Paul, Luke is also associated with Mary as the important events in her life, like the Annunciation, are described only in his gospel.

Robert McCausland Limited, Detail: St. Luke. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).

The Blackburn family has a long and dedicated relationship with St. John’s church, to the London Free Press, and to the city itself. Josiah Blackburn launched a daily newspaper on May 15, 1855. [1] In 1900, his son, Arthur Stephen became secretary-treasurer of the business and then president following his brother Walter Josiah’s death in 1920. Arthur Stephen married Etta Irene Henderson of Wardsville married in 1902. Etta was active in a Red Cross committee that set up a clothing supply depot for civic relief in London circa 1918. Their son, Walter Juxon continued the newspaper as the editor for many years and his daughter, Martha Blackburn-Hughes, ran the Blackburn Communications Group until her death in 1992.

[1] As cited in Elizbeth Spicer, Trumpeting Our Stained Glass Windows (London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008), #11.

Robert McCausland Limited, Detail: St. John the Evangelist. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).

St. John the Evangelist

Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1936

“To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of Flora, Wife of Reverend Adrian L. Zimmerman, M.A. 1864 – 1929″

Donor: Flora M. Zimmerman

John, who was one of the sons of Zebedee, was called “the disciple whom Jesus loved” six times in the narrative of the Gospel of John. In his left hand, he carries the book of his Gospel. With his other hand, he raises the chalice, in reference to Christ’s words to John in Matthew 20:23: “And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.”

According to Elizabeth Spicer, Flora Zimmerman was a devoted member of the congregation.[1] Her husband, Reverend Adrian L. Zimmerman was an Anglican clergyman and an instructor at Huron College for a brief period. He died on June 7, 1878, at 36, leaving Flora to raise their three children, Flora, Adrian, and Louis Patrick. Her son Louis laid to rest on July 30, 1903, at age 29. She herself died in 1929, and her other son Adrian was buried on June 7, 1933. The last member of the family, Flora M. Zimmerman, had a notable career as a teacher, owner of a school, and later a clerk at Canada Trust. She died June 28, 1940, at age 75.

[1] Elizbeth Spicer, Trumpeting Our Stained Glass Windows (London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008), #12.

^{Robert McCausland Limited, Detail: St. John the Baptist. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).}

St. John the Baptist

Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1936
Donated by the Congregation

John, the cousin and forerunner of Jesus, is clothed in green to symbolize spring, the triumph of life over death, charity, regeneration of the soul through good deeds and hope. He holds a lamb referencing Christ as the Lamb of God, and a staff with a white banner that symbolizes Christ’s Passion.

As noted, this window was added to The Good Shepherd light created by Joseph McCausland. Added to the larger window in 1936, the central zone was restored and two new panels, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, were installed. The original scheme, design and colourings of the window were not altered.  An additional pane of glass was installed on the outside to ensure the preservation of the window. 

Robert McCausland Limited, St. Peter and St. Paul. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Saint Paul

Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1936

“In Loving Memory of Enid Mary, Wife of Stuart L. Gunn, Who Died June 4, 1931, Age 36. Erected by Her Husband and Sons Geoffery and Kenrick”

One of the most influential figures in Christianity, Paul the Apostle is the patron saint of missionaries, evangelists, writers, and public workers and the author of the principal Epistles of the New Testament. Paul was originally named Saul and was a Roman citizen who presided over the persecutions of the early followers of Christ. Saul famously experienced a powerful vision on the road to Damascus that led to his conversion to Christianity. Upon his baptism, he took the name Paul and then began his famous missions. In the image, Paul holds his symbols, a sword in and an open book with Alpha and Omega on each side.

Robert McCausland Limited, Detail: St. Paul. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Enid Mary (Burton) Gunn was the only daughter of George and Kathryn Burton of Blundlesands, Lancashire, England. According to Spicer, She met Stuart Lowhall Gunn in London, England while serving as a Volunteer Aid Detachment military hospital work and he was a Staff Officer at Canadian Forces Headquarters. [1] They were married as St. James, Piccadilly, in September 1918 and moved to London, Ontario a few months later. Around 1922 the Gunns joined St. John’s, and she became very active in the parish. She was an accomplished musician and had been educated at conservatories in pre-war Berlin. She was also an artist and costume designer for the London Skating Club carnivals. Due to a decline in her health, Enid Gunn returned to England in August 1929 and died in June 1931. Her husband and sons returned to London, Ontario, the following August.

[1] Elizbeth Spicer, Trumpeting Our Stained Glass Windows (London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008), #16.

^{Robert McCausland Limited, Detail: St. Peter. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1936 (Photograph: Anahí González).}

 Saint Peter

Robert McCausland Limited, Toronto, 1936

“To the Glory of God and in loving memory of the Faithful Members of the Congregation who laboured for the Kingdom of God.”
Donated by the Congregation.

The Apostle of converted Jews, and the patron saint of Fishermen, Peter bears the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, as promised by Christ (Matthew 16:19). In the image, Peter has the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven in his right hand, while his left hand holds the book of the Gospel.

The window, along with Saint Luke, The Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Paul, was installed in new spaces created by the addition of a three-sided apse to the Sanctuary in 1927. At the same time, two panels were added to the Good Shepherd window, representing John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The company was started by Nathaniel Theodore Lyon who was an Irish immigrant to Canada. Like many stained glass artists in Ontario at the turn of the century, Lyon apprenticed in McCausland studios during the 1860s to 70s before establishing his own company in the 1880s. Aside from his time in McCausland studios, Lyon was trained in London, England in the studio of Edward Frampton. The N.T. Lyon Company produced thousands of windows before it was absorbed back into the McCausland Company Ltd. during the Great Depression.

On the whole Lyon’s style corresponds with that of McCausland Ltd. Both studios adopted medieval framing devices: canopies, pointed arches, medallions, plinths, and the like. Often the works included an array of flora and fauna indicative of the International Gothic styles, which flourished in Northern Europe and England, while the monumental figures are more robust and allude to the classical tradition as interpreted through Renaissance aesthetics.

N.T. Lyon Company, The Calling of John and Peter and John and Peter at the Sepulchre. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1905 (Photograph: Anahí González).

John and Peter at the Sepulchre

N.T. Lyon Company, Toronto, 1905
“To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of Alfred Beverly Cox, Died May 11, 1904. Erected by the Members of the Bible Class and Club.”
Donated by St. John’s Bible Class and Club.

Alfred Cox taught at the St. John’s Bible Class that eventually evolved into the St. John’s Athletic Club. For the church, he served as its Vestry Clerk for ten years and sometimes worked as the organist. Cox was eventually elected as a member of the Ontario Hockey Association and was President of the YMCA.

N.T. Lyon Company, Detail: John, from John and Peter at the Sepulchre. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1905 (Photograph: Anahí González).

“John and Peter at the Sepulchre” is part of a diptych along the south wall. The other image, “The Calling of James and John,” relates to the calling of the saints to follow Christ and to the events after Chris’s resurrection. Here we have chosen to focus on the image of “John and Peter at the Sepulchre.” The work of the story is recorded in the Gospel of John (20:3-10) and recounts the moment that John recognizes that Christ has risen.  According to the scripture, Mary Magdalene went to visit Christ’s tomb.  Upon arriving at the tomb Magdalene finds it empty and rushes to tell John and Peter that Christ’s body had been moved. John rushes to the tomb and arrives before Peter. John hesitantly peers into the tomb just before he enters after Peter. Upon entering the tomb, John immediately realizes that Christ has Risen. The artists here have depicted the moment of John’s arrival as he raises his hand to look into the dark tomb just before he learns of Christ’s Resurrection.

N.T. Lyon Company, Detail: Peter, from John and Peter at the Sepulchre. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1905 (Photograph: Anahí González).

N.T. Lyon Company, Christ Blessing the Children and The Good Samaritan. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario (Photograph: Anahí González).

Christ Blessing the Children; The Good Samaritan 

N.T. Lyon Company
“To the Memory of George Pennington Jones, M.D. Who Died April 8, 1892.”
Erected by his Friends & Fellow Worshippers

Another of St. John’s diptych windows portrays scenes of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) and the blessing of the children by Christ, which offers another variation of the depicted by Robert McCausland. The window of the Good Samaritan is among the more literal representations of religious themes. In the passages, a Jewish priest and a Levite pass a wounded man along the road. Following them was a Samaritan, who upon discovering the man, tends to the individual’s wounds and carries him to an inn; at the end, the Samaritan pays the innkeeper a wage to cover the wounder persons medical expenses. In the Lyon window, we see the Samaritan tending to the wounded man, while in the distance we see the priest and Levite in the distance, having already passed the wounded.

As Elizabeth Spicer notes, themes associated with acts of kindness and caring and compassion for our fellow man were the appropriate subject matter for a series of windows dedicated in honour of Dr. George P. Jones.[1] Dr. Jones was trained at McGill University, Trinity College, and Harvard University before he set up practice in London. Before his untimely death by a heart attack, Dr. Jones worked with the adult and boys’ choir at St. John’s.

Peter Haworth was born in 1889 in Oswaldtwistle, England. He began his training at the Royal College of Art, London, England, after World War I. By 1923 he was in Toronto as a member of the staff of the Central Toronto Technical School. He served as director of the school from 1929-1955 and taught ceramics there until 1963. Of the artists that worked at St. John’s, Haworth was among the more unique personalities as he took control of almost every facet of production, from design to cutting, to colouring, to installation. Haworth died in 1986.

His style differs from his precursors in Ontario as Haworth places a great emphasis on the figures than the surrounding accoutrements and farming devices. Many of his works have a sense of monumentality that relates his practice to the Early Modern era, but contains a sense of patterning rooted in the modern aesthetic. Indeed, his forms are crisp and easily discernible. The large figures offer a pleasing contrast to the patchwork of colour across his windows.

Bibliography:

Peter Haworth, Behold the Lamb of God. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1928 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Behold the Lamb of God

Peter Haworth, 1928
“To the Glory of God in Affectionate Remembrance: Hugh Percival McMahon, 1863-1924.”
Donated by his family. Unveiled April 15, 1928

Hugh Percival McMahon was a banker for Traders and the Royal Bank of Canada. He was instrumental in restoring the 1888 organ during 1921. The diptych windows illustrate the visit of Christ with St. John the Baptist, Peter, and Andrew. The works have complex symbolism like those found in the windows by Wallis.  According to scripture (John 1:29-34), after the testimony to the Jews, and in the presence of Peter and Andrew, John the Baptist states to the two future disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Within the images we see John flanked by Peter and Andrew pointing to Christ. Here Haworth relies upon Medieval and Renaissance iconography in the window of Christ.  Christ is shown crowned halo along with images of the cross, dove, and the sacrificial lamb. The flanking image depicts John, Peter, and Andrew. The figures are adorned with imagery corresponding to Early Modern conventions while the entirety of the scene is capped by the eagle of John the Evangelist.

Peter Haworth, Detail: Christ, from Behold the Lamb of God. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1928 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Peter Haworth, Detail: Andrew, Peter, and John the Baptist, from Behold the Lamb of God. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1928 (Photograph: Anahí González).

A leading figure in twentieth-century Canadian stained glass design and education, Yvonne Williams (1901-1997) forged a distinct and influential contemporary style that contributed to the development of modern stained glass.

Williams was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad to Canadian parents. In 1918, her family returned to Canada. She enrolled at the Ontario College of Art in 1922 to study sculpture but soon switched to painting with Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley and J.E.H. MacDonald. Williams’ interest in stained glass led her to do an additional year of college to focus on fine art metal and glass with instructor Grace Coombs. She worked and trained in studios in Toronto, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and the Connick Studio in Boston, supplemented with trips to Europe to study medieval stained glass cycles. In 1932, Williams opened her first studio but initially struggled to launch her career. As her business and reputation grew along with the economy, Williams built a large studio in North Toronto in the late 1940s. The studio operated for nearly thirty years and saw over four hundred commissions for churches, schools, hospitals and residences across the country. It was well-known for its high quality and its unique organization, which deviated from the strict hierarchy and defined tasks of a traditional glass studio.

Firsthand observations of Medieval stained glass and the Gothic revivalist style of her mentor,  Charles J. Connick inspired her early work in the 1930s and ’40s. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, she developed her more contemporary, abstract, and graphic style. Her windows show a continuous evolution, experimentation with various painting techniques and playing with light and colour to progressively move towards abstraction. In her illustrious career, she brought attention to stained glass as a medium expressing the ideas of contemporary society. Even after her retirement, she continued to design windows and be a source of encouragement and inspiration for the work of younger artists.

Bibliography

Yvonne Williams, Priscilla, St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1974 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Priscilla

Artist: Yvonne Williams, Toronto, 1974
Dedication: “To All Who Served in the W.A., 1889 – 1967”
“Mirror, Mirror Hanging on the wall, which is the Fairest Window of Them All?”

The Priscilla Window stands out in the church due to Williams’ abstract geometric design and jewel-like colours. In the window, Priscilla holds a strip of purple cloth and a needle. Along with her husband, Aquila, she was among the earliest of the Christian converts. They are referenced at least six times in the New Testament. They were tentmakers and Paul lived and worked with them. They represent Christian cooperation, hospitality, and service. Further, there is academic speculation that Priscilla wrote the Book of Hebrews, which is considered to be the only book of the New Testament without an author.

The window commemorates the service of devoted women of the church. According to Spicer,  the lower panel highlights the work of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Missionary Society of the Anglican Church of Canada, which started in this church’s parish in 1889. [1] Their weekly meetings coupled spirituality with knitting, quilting, and making garments for the missions in the Northwest Territories and India.

[1] Elizbeth Spicer, Trumpeting Our Stained Glass Windows (London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008), #19.

Hobbs Manufacturing Company (c. 1890-1929) was a large-scale importer and manufacture of glass. The company had locations in London, Winnipeg, and Toronto. Their advertisements note that they produced leaded windows for ecclesiastical purposes, along with stained glass, memorial and portrait windows, and mirrors for both religious and residential locations.[1]  Indeed, one of Hobbs’ retail advertisements from 1904 called itself “Canada’s Great Class House” and that it “always [has] on hand a very large stock of window and fancy glass.”[2] Unfortunately, because of the mass production of glass, little is known at the present about the company’s glassmakers.

Bibliography

Hobbs Manufacturing Company, Ltd. The Light of the World and Woman with Spinning Wheel. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1934 (Photograph: Anahí González).

The Light of the World; Woman with Spinning Wheel

Hobbs Manufacturing Company, Ltd., 1934
“To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of Francis Edgar Lawson, 1861-1911 and Lorena Hodgkins His Wife, 1861-1933).
Donated by the Family 

Of the more unique pieces within the St. John’s collection are the two images by Hobbs.  The windows draw upon the artistic work of William Holman Hunt, an English Pre-Raphaelite artist. The church’s window is based upon Hunt’s painting of “The Light of the World” (1854) in Keble College, Oxford, England. In Hunt’s image, the light radiates from two sources: the lantern the light of conscience and the halo or the light of salvation. Christ’s left-hand carries a lantern while his right is raised to imply the gesture of knocking, as in knocking on the door of the human soul. The vine-covered door does have an exterior handle, thus suggesting it must be opened from the inside. Here Hunt is adding a pictorial form to the passage from Revelations (3:20): “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.” The Hobbs’ window is significantly indebted to Hunt’s image. From the use of light to Christ’s halo doubling as the Morning Star to the covered doorway, the work is a copy of Hunt’s original theme.

William Holman Hunt, The Light of the World. Keble College, Oxford, 1854 (Photograph: public domain).

The flanking image is that of a “Woman with Spinning Wheel.”  As Elizabeth Spicer, the one-time parishioner and historian of the parish, notes that the image was chosen to honour Lorena Hodgkins for his tremendous work at St. John’s Women’s Guild and St. John’s Women’s Auxiliary of the Missionary of the Anglican Church of Canada[3].

Hobbs Manufacturing Company, Ltd. The Light of the World. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1934 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Hobbs Manufacturing Company, Ltd. Detail, Woman, from Woman with Spinning Wheel. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1934 (Photograph: Anahí González).

Based in London, Ontario, Sunrise Stained Glass provides custom stained glass work to residences and churches in south-western Ontario. Since opening in 1979, the studio has installed over 7,000 stained glass windows in residences and worked with over 500 churches in various cities in Ontario, providing restoration services, new memorial windows, protective storm glazing, or appraisals and condition reports on the state of their stained glass

The three partners of Sunrise Stained Glass, Roger Chapman, Paul Krueger, and Chris Ball, each has over forty years of experience in all phases of stained glass from design and construction of new commissions to the removal and restoration of old windows. The team has been involved in important church restoration projects, including examining and repairing numerous windows, including the two-hundred-square-foot War Memorial, in St. John’s and restoring most of the Nave stained glass windows including the East & West Transept Rose Windows and the large South End Rose Window of St. Peter’s Cathedral Basilica, London, Ontario.

Bibliography

“History.” Sunrise Stained Glass. Accessed June 10, 2021. www.sunrisestainedglass.com.
Spicer, Elizabeth. Trumpeting Our Stained Glass: The Church of St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario. London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008.

^{Sunrise Studios, The Holy Eucharist. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1992 (Photograph: Anahí González).}

The Holy Eucharist

Artist: Sunrise Studios, London, Ontario, 1992
Dedication: “Given to the Glory of God in thanksgiving for the Little and Scott families.”

The silver chalice, grapes, and shaves of wheat set in a blue circle are symbolic representations of the central tenet of the Anglican church’s worship. The chalice reminds parishioners of the words, “Christ in our midst … This is my body…The is my blood” (Matthew 26:26–28) and affirms the Anglican recognition of the Eucharist. The red borders emphasize the scared elements of this minimalist window.

The Meikle’s family and studio’s histories both began in Scotland and then branched into Canada. William Meikle Sr. founded the family’s glazing business in Glasgow. His two sons, William Tait Meikle and James Harvie Meikle inherited the glazing business and began designing stained glass in 1886. James Harvie’s son, William James who founded Meikle Studios in Toronto, was born in Ontario but his family returned to Glasgow when he was a child. William James apprenticed in Glasgow with the influential stained glass artist, Stephen Adam. When a bitter legal battle ensued between James Harvie and William Tait due to James Harvie’s departure from Meikle & Sons in 1895, William James moved to New York City. In New York, he became a designer with Gorham Silversmiths. He then moved to Chicago before returning to Toronto in 1914. In Toronto, William became the Art Director for Hobbs Glass where he designed ecclesiastic stained glass. He then served as Art Director for Robert McCausland Ltd for over twenty years and even managed the firm when Robert McCausland was ill. He established his own studio in Toronto and his son carried on the business in Southampton, Ontario and then Port Elgin, from about 1960 until its closure around 1980.

Due to Lyon and Meikle’s experience at Robert McCausland Ltd, three companies have stylistic, design, subject, and colour similarities and Gothic inspirations. Their works often feature flowers, leaves, animals, and other aspects of nature along with the canopies completing the tops of windows, the medallions, and borders.

Bibliography

“Person Record: Meikle, William James.” Grey Roots Museum & Archives: Online Collections. 2015.https://greyroots.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Meikle%2C+William+James.
Salata, Sim. “Reconnecting History: The Desboro United Church Windows and the Meikle Family.” Grey Roots Museum and Archives. Accessed July 10, 2021. https://greyroots.com/story/reconnecting-history-desboro-united-church-windows-and-meikle-family.
Spicer, Elizabeth. Trumpeting Our Stained Glass: The Church of St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario. London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008.

“William Meikle & Son.” Mackintosh Architecture. 2014. https://www.mackintosh-architecture.gla.ac.uk/catalogue/name/?nid=MeikWSon.

Meikle Stained Glass Studio, War Memorial Window. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1949 (Photograph: Anahí González).

War Memorial Window 

Artist: Meikle Stained Glass Studio, Toronto, 1949.
Dedication: “To the Glory of God and in Lasting Remembrance of All Who Gave Their Lives, and in Honour of Those Who Served, 1914-18; 1929-45.”

The window commemorates those who served and gave their lives in WWI and WWII and includes one of the earliest Canadian memorials to honour women’s service. At the forefront are the four patron saints of the British Isles: St. Patrick and St. George on the left and St. Andrew and St. David on the right. The two outer panels include representations of war and peace as the archangel Gabriel, with lilies and a lamb, points upwards to a scroll inscribed “On earth peace, good will towards men” and St. Michael, holding a spear, has his foot on the defeated Dragon. Surrounding the group are angels bearing symbols of Christ’s Passion and carrying the Cross and the Crown. In the tracery at the top of the window, the figure of Christ with his right hand raised appears in a medallion surrounded by emblems, the Chalice (faith), the Anchor (hope), and the Cross (sacrifice), and the monogram IHS (Jesus). The bottom panels include the crests of the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, and the Eagle, emblem of St. John the Evangelist.

Meikle Stained Glass Studio, Detail: St. Michael from War Memorial Window. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1949 (Photograph: Anahí González).

In 1945, a War Memorial Committee was set up to consider several proposals. The Women’s Guild suggested a large West Window and subscribed $1500 towards its cost.[1] On January 9, 1949, the War Memorial Window was unveiled on the west wall by Major E.S. Fisher, which was followed by the reading of the names of those served and in memory of those who had paid the supreme sacrifice. Later, floodlights were installed in memory of Helen Roadhouse (1910-1979) by her husband Joyce Roadhouse to make the window visible from the street at night.

Meikle Stained Glass Studio, Detail: Christ from War Memorial Window. St. John the Evangelist, London, Ontario, 1949 (Photograph: Anahí González).

[1] Elizbeth Spicer, Trumpeting Our Stained Glass Windows (London: St. John the Evangelist, 2008), #28.