Bean Sawyer
Bean first had a taste of Stained Glass at the age of 15 when, in a rebellious move, decided to pursue an alternative work experience week at Walcot Reclamation Yard in Bath with Stained Glass Artist, Tony Bristow, rather than working in an office as the school was suggesting.
This was the start of a fascination into the craft which sat on the back burner with her as she went through Art College coming out the other end with an HND in Illustration.
Bean sparked the fire up again when she became a mother in 1993, relearning the craft in-between child care, until she felt confident enough to take on her first commission. Since then she has brought light and colour into many homes. More recently Bean has merged her illustration and writing practices into her Stained Glass projects, creating some interesting pieces of art at her home studio in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Bean is also dedicated to running small workshops to help others on their Stained Glass journey, hopefully to inspire and fuel their fascination of this wonderful craft. She is also the newly appointed Casual Lifelong Learning Tutor in Pembrokeshire.
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As well as Stained Glass, Bean is also a poet and writer setting up a postal poetry project in 2023 called The Murmuration of Words.
<<<Click here to visit my writing blog
“When I was eighteen, I was given some money for my birthday. I thought long and hard about what to spend it on. In the end, I bought a table.
As it turned out, that table would become one of the most profound and meaningful objects in my life. The catalyst of my artistic journey.
At the time I was doing an illustration course at Carmarthen School of Art. During term time, my desk was my sanctuary. I had everything I needed to lose myself in one place – a pot with paint brushes, a sketch pad, a journal, pencils and inks. In the crazy world of a teenager, my little desk was the only place I felt in control. It was where I had permission to experiment and make mistakes and, sometimes if I was lucky, make beautiful things.
So when I bought my very own table, subconsciously I had granted myself that same creative freedom, no matter where I was living or what was going on around me.
Often over the years, that well-traveled table has been one of the most stable things in my life. It’s seen my highs and lows from the corner of bedrooms, a few kitchens, a leaky barn, a shed, a garage and once from a tight space under the stairs. It’s supported my stained glass journey right from the very start, providing me with a solid foundation to express myself.
There was a time when it spent years neglected, piled high in paper and useless bits of clutter while I was preoccupied with other things. At other times it' been a smoking hot production line of my own little cottage industry.
Now, thirty years on, it’s just had a much needed face lift with a new plywood top. It takes pride of place in my studio, supporting me, as ever, like a faithful friend whether I’m painting, printing, sketching, writing, making stained glass windows, or teaching others how to make theirs.
It has to be said, that it’s often the simplest pleasures in life that are the greatest. There is always a little moment of appreciation, a small exchange between myself and my table that happens when I’m tidying away the spoils of a finished project, sweeping away the debris of broken glass, and lead cement; lovingly dusting down the surface so I can sit down at my table once again with a blank piece of paper, poised, ready to go.”
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