Glass Doors

Jane McDonald is both an experienced teacher and an artist who has worked on numerous public and private commissions.  She has a degree in Fine Art from the University of Exeter and a Masters in Ceramics and Glass from the Royal College of Art.  She has collaborated on many projects with other design professionals from concept to installation of artworks.  She works in glass, ceramics and printmaking.

The south-west entrance doors to Dorchester Abbey were commissioned in 2002.  The doors, made of etched glass with brass fittings, provide glimpses of the font and nave and a view of the People’s Chapel and carry abstracted images based on drawings made in the Abbey.  Although the abbey interior appears simple on first viewing, the architecture is complex in detail and structure and this mix of simplicity and decoration was an important element of the design.  Arcading adjacent to massive pillars, views of tracery seen through columns, architectural elements such as corbels, and particular areas such as an ogee arch in a side chapel, were all considered and provided a starting point for the distillation of marks that became the final design.

Other commissions include doors, screens, panels and windows for a wide variety of clients including Oxford Children’s Hospital, Holy Trinity Church Guildford, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, the University of Oxford, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Middlesex Hospital Chapel and Portsmouth City Art Gallery.