Christ Church Cathedral revisited

Today saw the eagerly awaited chance to review my previous work and discuss future plans with two of the Managers within the Cathedral – assorted summer leave dates has delayed this by some six weeks!  Those two key figures are the Operations Manager (with whom I have previously liaised) and the Public Engagement Manager.

The main purpose of this visit is for me to persuade these two influential members of the Cathedral Chapter that Christ Church Cathedral should host an exhibition of my work in late November.  However, it is not for them to decide: I require them to propose my plans to the Cathedral Chapter during their next meeting in late October.

To help with my ‘sell’, I travelled to the meeting with a selection of mounted prints depicting assorted stained glass windows from the chapels of Oxford, together with proof prints of the numerous windows that I have worked upon within the Cathedral.  It seemed pertinent to print off a spiral bound working proof of the supporting book to gauge their reaction – the possibility of having it on sale within a site that attracts over half a million visitors each year is not to miss.

William Clowes and Sons Ltd (1949) Christ Church Cathedral Map lithograph

The meeting was held within the cordoned-off nave on a bright an busy week day that saw crowds of tourists in and around the College and Cathedral.  We talked for almost an hour and my presentation was met with tremendous enthusiasm – way beyond anything I had hoped.  While requiring rubber stamping by the Chapter in October, the recommendations that will be put to them are for the Cathedral to host an exhibition of my work in the North Transept together with a book launch, and the Cathedral shop will stock the book as well as prints of my work.

With the meeting over, before taking my leave, I was introduced to further research centred upon long lost stained glass from the Cathedral.  Impressed by the pedantic and fastidious accuracy of my current work, I was asked if conducting advanced research on a hoard of 16th century van Linge stained glass as a part-time DPhil would be of interest to me.  Certainly a very interesting an exciting and flattering proposal.