Hand-Painted Medallions

Stained and decorative glass suffered a steep decline in public interest from the mid-1940's to the early 1960's. The trend in new church buildings was for minimal decoration, with little or no stained glass in the windows. Tiffany lamps had gone out of style and many were thrown out with the trash (those same original Tiffany lamps would now be worth many thousands or even millions of dollars). It became fashionable to use plastics for color and decoration in the home. This was the era when many people decried that stained glass was a dead or dying art form.

The 1960's saw the beginning of a revival for the stained glass craft. The pop culture of the mid 60's exploded onto the scene with it's bold, confident designs and art glass became "cool" to a new generation of Americans. An art medium that used light and color to compose a work of art, was a natural connection to empower the self-expression of the "hip generation".

During the 1970's, proponents and neophyte crafters were attracted to this age-old art form and the revival was truly underway. Small art glass studios were established and artistic experimentation was rampant. Hobby instruction classes were offered everywhere you looked and glass crafting flourished as a do-it-yourself art. New glass manufacturing facilities were born and older established glass factories "rediscovered" lost formulas for making unusual and diverse types of stained glass. It wasn't long before glass, very similar to the type L. C. Tiffany & Co. used at the turn of the century, was readily available.

While there were hundreds of studios now at work producing beautiful stained glass works, one aspect of the art, painting on glass, was trailing behind the progress made in the art glass craft as a whole. Most studios developed and refined their skills as stained glass artists but did not include glass painting in their repertories. Perhaps this was due to a lack of qualified instruction or to difficulty in obtaining the specialized stains and other supplies. Whatever the reason, the scarcity of glass painters turned out to be a golden opportunity for Bovard Studio.

In the late 1990's we recognized there was a need for ready-made glass components with traditional hand-painted motifs, which could be incorporated into stained glass windows. We developed several prototypes of glass medallions, featuring both religious and secular painted designs and made a presentation to one of our trusted suppliers. We showed them our samples and explained the concept of offering authentic hand-painted stained glass medallions to the rapidly growing number of professional and hobby-craft artisans. To our delight, the distributor said yes and we left with a purchase order. Our elegant hand-painted glass products are now carried by most art glass distributors and are available through thousands of stained glass retailer supply stores around the world.

Bovard Studio's custom medallions include eighteen hand-painted and kiln-fired "Life of Christ" and "Old Testament" scenes. These Medallions are available in 18" x 24" (45.7 x 61 cm) oval, 18" x 24" (45.7 x 61 cm) rectangle and 18" x 24" (45.7 x 61 cm) royal arch shapes. Also available are 12" x 16" (30.5 x 40.6 cm) oval, 12" x 16" (30.5 x 40.6 cm) rectangle and 12" x 16" (30.5 x 40.6 cm) royal arch shapes, along with 9" and 12" (22.8 & 30.5 cm) circles (disk shape). These medallions look great with a simple border added to hang as an autonomous panel or they can be incorporated into full-size, custom designed leaded glass windows with borders and a geometric background. See examples on this page and in the Design Archive.

Please note: These medallion scenes are copyright 1992 by Bovard Studio Inc. All rights are reserved. These designs may not be reproduced by any means or any reason without written consent from the copyright owner.

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