Grail Window. A stained glass window by Johannes Steuck
Johannes Steuck was born in Stockholm on 8th.March 1956. At the age of 3 months the family moved to Hannover in Northern Germany where his father got work as a Waldorf teacher. Johannes spent his first six years in Hanover and attended the Waldorf kindergarten. The family then emigrated to Great Britain where his parents reaffirmed their strong links with the Camphill movement joining the community in Thornbury. He grew up in the community sharing some of his early schooling with special needs children. At 10 he joined Wynstones School becoming a weekly boarder at Easter Park Farm and Ruskin Mill with the Gordon family. Johannes left Wynstones at the end of class 12, going on to do the Arts Foundation Course in Cheltenham College of Art and was awarded an upper second. After college Johannes travelled extensively, visiting the cultural centers of Europe and the Middle East, hitchhiking across America and spending some months in India. His commissioned art work of this period 1980 to 1984 includes a series of book illustrations for Peter Patterson’s book Fal, the Grail Fountain at the Rowan Tree in Bristol and three large mosaics based on the life of King Arthur at the Sheiling Schools, Thornbury. Johannes moved back to the Cotswolds in 1984 and became a gardener at Cotswold Chine Home School. This work also included teaching gardening to groups of residents. At about this time Johannes was introduced to Mr.Edward Payne, a stained glass artist who lived in Box. Mr.Payne, then already 79, agreed to take him on as an informal “pupil”. Johannes attended weekly sessions over a period of about a year and assisted Mr.Payne in his last major commission, the windows in the chapel of Cirencester Hospital. In 1986 Johannes set up a stained glass and mosaic studio at Ruskin Mill. Commissioned art work of this period 1984 to 1992 includes an altar picture for Mourne Grange Community Chapel (Christian Community), an alcove mosaic and stone sculpture for Paradise House. Three stained glass windows for the chapel in Oaklands Camphill Community and a window for the Lindens Family Centre in Stroud. In the Spring of 1993, Johannes and his family moved to Paradise Community becoming house parents for young adults with learning difficulties. Johannes eventually became the gardener for the community and was responsible for the vegetable growing and soft fruit and orchard. Over the winter months he ran workshops for the residents in which they were encouraged to develop their skills and abilities. He also ran weekly seminars for the young volunteers who had joined the community from abroad. Since March 1996, Johannes and his family have been living on Painswick Beacon. He has set up a teaching studio in which he gives courses in stained glass, mosaic and sculpture. More ...
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