AN ARTIST is holding an exhibition which will showcase his mesmerising stained glass window designs.

Jon Callan, of Dorchester, is holding the exhibition at St Peter's Church in High West Street, Dorchester, from Friday January 13 to Monday January 23.

It will be open daily from 10am to 4pm.

He will be displaying a selection of architectural stained glass designs and images of past and recent projects. Some of the designs are made, and some are unmade, whilst others remain works in progress for church clients.

Jon says that glass is his preferred medium to work with.

He said: "I treat it as a collage material combined with drawing and painting.

"It differs significantly from canvas in that it imparts transmitted light through the image rather than light reflected from a surface.

"The seductive brilliance of light and colour within fire finished handmade mouth blown glass, contains a labyrinth of contradictory qualities - a transparent canvas that’s solid and delicate, clear and opaque, crafted and structural, aesthetic and utilitarian.

"It's about using light's astonishing capacity to affect and lift the human spirit."

Jon says his premise is not to create autonomous works for their own sake, but to keep architectural considerations always in the forefront with the aim of achieving an integrity that refers to the past and traditional methods.

Whilst simultaneously being visibly part of today, but seeking innovation in projects with a sense of this isn’t how it has always been done before.

He recognises that there may be a different way of doing this, and responding to opportunities and challenges for the uses of glass and associated materials in the architectural space.

Jon Callan established his Dorchester based studio in 1981 after training in traditional glass painting and contempory glass design at Swansea college of Art department of Architectural glass. He continued his training with further practical training in Oslo, and New York, with additional study at Bath Art College.

Clients include the Anglican Dioceses of Salisbury, Bath and Wells, Winchester and Portsmouth, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth, the Royal Palaces, English Heritage, the National Trust, local authorities, corporate bodies and private individuals. He has also been involved in a number of public-art and arts-in-education projects.

He is the former stained-glass adviser to the Diocese of Salisbury.

For more information about Jon's work, see stainedglassetc.co.uk