With CM1 we continue to discover western art forms across time. These past 2 weeks we have been working on our stained glass project. We seemed inspiration in Chartres Cathedral that is located in the medieval town of Chartres, about 50 miles from Paris.
The church is known for its superb stained glass windows that glow like jewels. Dating from the early 13th century, it is said to constitute one of the most complete collections of medieval stained glass in the world. There are between 150 and 170 medieval stained glass windows in Chartres Cathedral. One of them is a very notable window called the Blue Virgin Window (Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière), created around 1150. We learned about the process of creating a stained glass. We took a trip to the Maine Art Glass Studio in Lisbon Falls, and had a class with Jim Nutting, a great artist who is also a passionate bug collector.
We did a fused glass art project with him, and checked out his stained glass and bug expo and the life bug collection.
It was a wonderful and a very inspirational afternoon.
In class we also created a "tracing paper" stained glass project, to be seen soon in the hallways....
What a fun afternoon!
