21/12/2024
The new Nativity window just installed in St Paul’s Cathedral: A huge thank you in appreciation of the great team of people who made it possible for me to realise this memorial to a significant Otago family.
There are many Easter eggs in this tribute to the family of Emeritus Professor John Renata Broughton, who with this window has made a great gift to the city of Dunedin and to the fabric of the southernmost cathedral in the world.
John’s concept was inspired by pre-Raphaelite art with design development magic performed by Marty Roberts using costuming and lighting at Allen Hall Theatre at Otago University. Students ably assisted with costuming and lighting the characters under the artificial star of Bethlehem lighting rig.
A host of helpers at all stages assisted with creating and building this artwork including Alaskan-trained artist Danielle Munro working on the flesh painting and assorted subject specialists providing insights about relics, or supplying artefacts for props.
The models all know who they are, especially my angelic daughter Raven playing the heavenly instruments, Mariya Semenova heralding the birth as Mary’s body model and channelling the singing angels.
Credit too to some wise men including cartoonist and illustrator Loui Silvestro who both body-modelled Joseph and worked hand in hand with me developing dynamic poses for the composition to always focus back correctly where the eye needs to go.
Credit to anatomist Louisa Baillie for shepherding the all-expressive hands, and to two genuine shepherds who posed with Daisy the sheep to create the authentic scene on the right-hand lancet.
Physicist and astronomer Ian Griffin generated an astronomical map for the Bethlehem night sky of December 25 in the original year of our Lord — so all the stars in the celestial realm above the terrestrial characters are placed accurately, as is the moon for its phase and position — which was matched by its phase in the sky in Dunedin the night before the window opening.
Credits to geochronologist and mountaineer Nichole Moerhuis and geology technician Sophie White for first-hand knowledge informing the alpine plants featured in the window base and for finely detailed flower painting and sustained work across the entire project.
Crafty Tim Ramming inspired improvements in building and double-glazing processes. Stonemasons Reuben and Graham assisted by Marcus Wainwright did a phenomenal job installing 26 panels into complex stonework under tight time constraints, and with some high winds making work difficult.
Everyone involved put in the hard yards in a test of endurance that finished the year on a gloriously positive note with a literally brilliant result. Students, colleagues and friends including Luke, Neil and Bernadette helped when the going was tough in the finishing stages to push through the final panels by deadline.
Bravo to all contributors at every stage.
As Reuben Tait puts it: The team makes the dream, and I have great respect to his oversized ability and unyielding positive energy.
A big nod to the pre-Raphaelites for their attention to veracity in recording even tiny aspects of reality, for their rich and subtle palettes, and for their valuing the use of real people models in art: each character is a genuine person in a specific light in one specific place and time and they exist at that moment in a particular emotional state.
Leonardo da Vinci must be acknowledged for his tiny sketch of Mary with her arms spread in joy at her baby boy, inspiring the pose of a happy mother, such a key feature in the window — also making opportunity for that most pre-Raphaelite of images, a beautiful woman of great depth with lush hair in a stunning blue dress.
Finally the biggest acknowledgement:
“It is easy to look great standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Respect and kudos to my glass-painting master Charles Antony Pilgrim Wetton (1924-1994) who taught me how to understand what stained glass can achieve. Centuries of studio culture have distilled understanding on the content and composition of windows and how the narratives and symbols they illustrate can enhance architecture for the generations of folk whose lives are enriched by being in these spaces.
Respect then for all the ancestors whose lives and traditions have woven the rich fabric of skills and aesthetics that create the most vivid images with the most primal natural tools — colour and light.
