What is it about me and stained glass windows? Among the artifacts in the 2011 exhibit, there will be at least three of them: one from Miss Rose Kavanaugh’s 1908 home near the Darwin School; another, the actual door from Anson Tennant’s architectural office of 1912 in the Wasserman Block; and the third will come from a Kindergarten run by several ladies at the Episcopal church.
More than forty years ago while still an undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma, I browsed the Architecture Library’s copies of The Studio, a British fine and decorative arts periodical that began publication in 1893. It was instrumental in promoting the careers of several designers such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh. One of the many images that remained with me was a design by Margaret Lloyd that would have lent itself to reproduction in stained glass, though it’s likely to be a window of inordinate complexity. I finally managed to acquire a scan of Lloyd’s design for “Punch & Judy,” a traditional bit of British puppet theatre, hoping to find someone who could translate it into glass. Wish me luck.
The kindergarten itself will be easy enough and fit nicely into the story told by Carol and Vince Hatlen of a subsequent Montessori School established about 1950. Together, they’ll allow a fuller telling of early childhood education during those years.
Not incidentally, the window–if it can happen–will be both stunning and evocative.
PS[2022.12.03]: Twelve years have improved my chances of finding more information on the elusive Margaret Lloyd. Ms Lloyd shows up in an exhibition catalogue of 1905, living at #31 Falkner Street, Liverpool. Oddly enough, Mr Johnson and I walked within half a block of that address on the way from one Liverpool cathedral to the other Liverpool cathedral (one Anglican, the other R.C.). More important, her catalogue entry lists several works, two of which were illustrated: two circular designs in what must have been a series under the general title of “The Village Fair”. Besides the “Punch & Judy” design used for our window, there were two others: “Richardson’s Show” and “Cakes and Ale”. I’d give a lot to see those in colour — forgive the British affectation.