Shropshire Star

Phil Gillam: Shining a light on Shrewsbury stained glass artist

Coloured pencils, paints, brushes, palettes, jars, sketchbooks and scraps of paper are everywhere.

Published
Nathalie at work in her studio

But most tellingly – amongst this organised chaos – lie fragments of beautiful coloured glass and the strips of lead that will be used to bind them together.

This is the little wonderland that is Nathalie Hildegarde Liege’s Shrewsbury studio.

And it is here where she creates fantastic works of art.

As we wander around, Nathalie points out some work that is not her own, saying: “This was done by St Winefride’s school children. They created this as part of workshop they did with me. Equally wonderful children from the Priory School also did great work with me for this major project.”

Nathalie is an artist who works in stained glass.

She has a rare gift coupled with tremendous flair and a high degree of good old-fashioned craftsmanship.

And she uses her talents to create truly stunning works.

Her exquisite stained glass windows simply stop you in your tracks.

Based in her studio in Shrewsbury’s English Bridge Workshop, Nathalie has been working for some time on a window in four sections – a creation that will be housed in Shrewsbury’s Museum and Art Gallery – hopefully installed by September. This is the project with which the school children have been helping.

She says: “It will refer to the many species of birds found in all stained glass artwork by the great stained glass artist Margaret Agnes Rope, but it will also reflect Shropshire’s geology and 21st century environmental concerns ...

“These are just some of the many influences going into the creation of Marga and Collections, a stained glass window for the corridor leading to the Medieval Gallery of the museum.”

Marga, by the way, was the nickname of Margaret Agnes Rope who lived in Shrewsbury in the early years of the 20th century and who was responsible for the large west window of Shrewsbury Cathedral, the first of seven she created there.

Back to the present day and it’s fair to say that life has certainly thrown up some serious challenges for Nathalie - including her having to undergo a bone marrow transplant in 2005. The operation and her recovery period greatly interrupted her work, but she now says: “I’m fully recovered although you will never be exactly the same again in terms of energy.

"That said, despite having the transplant my passion for my work drove me to continue. Not only did I refuse to let it hold me back but it gave me new inspirations and experiences to draw from in my work and made me much more self-aware in how I work and how far I can push myself."

Continuing our tour around Nathalie’s studio, she points out some of the details of the lower section of the major work taking shape, saying: “The lower section is more playful for children to enjoy.”

This large piece of work for the museum has – through the interest it has generated – brought in many other commissions for Nathalie; something she is truly delighted about.

“I’m also thrilled to say that I am celebrating the 20th anniversary of my studio."

She is the owner and founder of Couleurlive Studio which she set up in 1998.

Having grown up in the South-East suburbs of Paris, Nathalie studied Fine Arts in The Sorbonne where she found a great interest in writing poetry, and also developed a fascination for theology and ethnology – the study of the characteristics of different peoples.

She has lived in the UK for the last 22 years. She has been honoured with the Worshipful Company of Glaziers & Painters of Glass Journeymans Award 1998-2000. And she is a member of The British Society of Master Glass Painters.

The progress and development of her current projects has being captured on film by talented local film-maker Katie Eccleston Boker of KAE Films:

You can find out more about Nathalie’s work, and the workshops she runs, at couleurlive.com