An artistic legacy

STAFF in the office of the Committee on Artistic Matters of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, always enjoyed the days when Crear McCartney would arrive with a cartoon proposal for a new stained glass window in a Church of Scotland sanctuary.

His submissions tackled every sort of subject, backed up by meticulous research. Ask him about a monastic order, a Celtic saint or martyr, a Biblical text, heraldry, butterflies: he could always answer. During more than 50 years he completed over 100 stained glass window commissions – in Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic and Scottish Episcopal churches in Scotland, and also in Scottish public buildings as well as abroad.

Growing up among the South Lanarkshire hills at Symington, Crear attended Biggar High School. After National Service in the RAF, he gained his Diploma in Art at Glasgow School of Art and a post-graduate qualification in stained glass. His first job in 1955 took him to Pluscarden Abbey, where he set up a studio and taught the monks there the stained glass skills needed to restore its windows. While there, Crear also created windows in RC churches in St Aidan’s in Aviemore and St Columba’s in Banchory.

After three years teaching art in Elgin Academy, Crear moved to Lesmahagow in 1964 as Head of Art, with stained glass as an ‘extra’ activity. However, in 1988 he resolved to take up stained glass work full time, producing his best works from the mid 1980s onwards, among them a vast West Window (unveiled by the Queen) to mark Kirkwall Cathedral’s 850th anniversary, and in the Kirk of the Holy Rude in Stirling a dramatic Guildry window packed full of history and geography.

In Crear’s Dornoch Cathedral’s windows, Bishop Gilbert, Martha, Mary and St Margaret all appear. Crear’s spectacular window in St Katherine’s Aisle of St Michael’s Church of Scotland in Linlithgow, with six lancets in two stages and a rose window above, is widely considered to be his greatest work.

In the upper stage, the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, the 12 Apostles and the Last Trump are represented by strong reds and yellows while below, the River of Life and the golden streets and doorways leading into heaven are based on verses from Revelation 22.

The Rev Ian Paterson, former minister of St Michael’s, tells that the year he and Crear spent developing the ideas for this window was a highlight of his ministry.

Back in South Lanarkshire, Crear has many windows in Stonehouse churches, and an unusual Last Supper in Strathaven, Avendale where the ‘Bread’ appears as ears of corn and the Cup appears to float against a deep blue sky surrounded by a stylised red crown of thorns. Crear also has lovely windows in Biggar Kirk (A Time to be Born), Peebles Old Church, Caimgryffe Church, and Blackmount Church in Dolphinton.

“Crear felt hugely privileged to work in stained glass, and gave it his all, in the hope that others would look and see for themselves the messages of divine presence and power and grace that he strove so hard to convey

Crear felt hugely privileged to work in stained glass, and gave it his all, in the hope that others would look and see for themselves the messages of divine presence and power and grace that he strove so hard to convey.

The Scottish Stained Glass Trust has available copies of a 45 minute DVD entitled Crear McCartney’s Dolphinton Windows. This shows the entire process of making and installing the windows in Black Mount Church. The Trust research assistant Mylène Vigneron appeals to readers to help her by responding as fully as possible to questionnaires she is currently sending out to congregations thought to have windows by Crear.

Contact the writer at scottishstainedglasstrust@gmail.com information on topics mentioned above.