Biography

Beverley Shore Bennett MBE was born in Wellington in 1928, descended on both sides from New Zealand pioneers. She became a full time student at Wellington Art School in 1946 after leaving Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. The course was a great all-round art training taken by F.V.Ellis. At that time he was designing glass for Roy Miller at Miller’s Studios in Dunedin and was so excited by it that he set his class a glass design project, which Beverley enjoyed. At that stage, however, she was determined to be a portrait painter, having studied portraiture with Betty Rhind. In 1951 she travelled to England, spending two years at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting in London, training with professional tutors including Brian Thomas. While there she took part in several exhibitions including at the Royal Academy. In 1953 Beverley returned home, married and a family of three girls followed, however she continued painting portrait commissions. In 1969 she was asked by Dean Walter Hurst to design a window for Wellington Cathedral in memory of the founder of the Holm Shipping Company. The design was approved but Beverley needed a glass craftsman. She remembered that her Art School teacher, F.V.Ellis, had been working with Miller Studios in Dunedin on window commissions and contacted Roy Miller. His enthusiasm was most encouraging in that this was to be a totally New Zealand project. Until then Roy had been using English designer, Kenneth Gordon Bunton. This began a wonderful collaboration with Roy Miller for over 10 years, producing over 170 single lights in over 57 commissions. Windows ranged in size from ten-foot church windows to small decorative panels for houses. It was a very happy, harmonious collaboration where Roy was able to achieve the effect she had planned in the original design. Later, Beverley worked with glass craftsman Paul Hutchins, producing almost 60 commissions, some comprising of multiple windows. Paul had trained at the Swansea School of Art and was employed by Millers Studios in 1978. With further training in stained glass painting Paul became a very fine artist and eventually carried out all the window work at Millers Studios until Paul moved to Western Australia in 1987 and Millers glass studio closed to focus on shop design and sign painting. Beverley also worked with Toronto glass artist, Stephen Belanger-Taylor, originally English and married to French Canadian hot glass artist, Denise Belanger-Taylor. Many significant window commissions, including the “I am the bread of life” window for Wellington’s Lady Chapel Cathedral, were completed by “mail order” across the Pacific before the Canadians moved permanently to Geraldine, New Zealand. Beverley designed all of the thirteen windows for Napier’s St Johns cathedral and both Paul and Stephen collaborated with her at different times on this. Paul’s first job was to complete four huge windows in the west end, while Stephen completed the final two in 2004. There are now over three hundred of her window designs in New Zealand including all the windows in Wellington’s Lady Chapel. Beverley has also designed and made church vestments and hangings, the largest being the dossal in Wellington Cathedral. She is the only New Zealand woman to be an elected Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters. Stephen was already a Fellow when they met, and Roy was also honoured with this title. Currently, in 2010 these three artists are the only New Zealand fellows of this society. Stephen died in 2009 and Roy died in 1981 While Beverley is no longer actively involved in design she is kept busy with consultancy work and with family life, and as a lay minister in her Waikanae parish. http://www.roymiller.co.nz/page5/page5.html

Name

Shore-Bennett, Beverley (stained glass)

Type

Designer

Biography

Roy Miller came from a family of artists and craftstmen. His grandfather Henry Miller was a Master Coachbuilder whose handsome-cabs won several championship awards at the Melbourne Exhibition. Roy’s father Oswell set the standard of signwriting in Dunedin with his firm O G Miller which started in 1913 and became Miller Studios in 1958. Roy’s brother Ralph Miller also worked in the family firm, establishing modern design techniques and was a talented artist, but tragically died aged 37 in 1956. Roy started working with his father as a signwriter after leaving primary school in the days when paint was mixed each morning from powder. Acid etching on glass was a large part of the work in those days and Roy spent a large part of his time with this work. It was very specialized with various effects being obtained by using different acids over each other, resulting in badly burned hands at times. Robert Fraser who was the first glass painter in New Zealand had a room next to O G Miller in Rattray St and in 1942 he offered to teach Roy the art of stained glass, as he was about to retire. In 1943 O G Miller purchased Fraser’s Art Glass Works and Roy Miller started producing his own stained glass window beginning initially with about one commission a year. A progressive change came when the design work for Roy’s stained glass windows was done by Frederick Ellis A.R.C.A.of Wellington who produced designs from 1948 - 1961. Then to match competition from the English Studios Roy used designs from Kenneth Bunton (from 1959 - 1969) who lived in England. Roy, however, was always sure the ultimate was to be able to produce the complete window in New Zealand and he achieved this in 1969 when he combined with designer Beverley Shore Bennett to produce the Holm window in the Wellington Cathedral. Beverley produced designs for Miller Studios from 1969 top the studio closed in 1987. Roy Miller and Beverley Shore Bennett were made the first New Zealand ‘Fellows of the British Society of Master Glass Painters’, a society formed approximately 500 years ago. Roy Miller’s stained glass windows can now be seen all over New Zealand from small churches to leading churches and cathedrals. Paul Hutchins from Wales joined Miller Studios in 1977 and worked with Roy for several years. Roy retired in the early 1980s but came out of retirement to work with Paul on three windows in the Christchurch Cathedral. He died just before the windows were completed. Miller Studios closed the glass department in 1987 following a recession and consequent drop in orders from churches. http://www.millerstudios.co.nz/about.aspx

Name

Miller Studios, Dunedin (stained glass)

Type

Builder

Biography

No biography is currently available for this construction professional

Name

Mair, Gilbert

Type

Builder