Early life

Sarah Hall was born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1951, and grew up in the nearby town of Dundas. Her family’s home was on the edge of a ravine, and Hall was greatly inspired by the natural world around her. The Niagara Escarpment which encircles the Dundas Valley, was an important influence in the development of her work.

Hall’s dream to become a stained glass artist began early. When she was 9, her father was Chairman of the Building Committee for their family’s church in Dundas. During the design phase for this project, Hall went along with her father and his committee as they looked church buildings. It was then that she decided to make stained glass windows her life’s work. As there were no classes in stained glass in Canada during the 1960s and early 1970s, Hall lived and worked for several years in Alberta photographing ghost towns for the Provincial Archives of Alberta, supported by a federal Opportunities for Youth grant.

Education

In 1974, Hall enrolled in the Creative Arts Department at Sheridan College where stained glass was offered as one of the classes. Following this, she was determined to find a full-time program in stained glass, and she next enrolled in the Architectural Glass Department at Swansea College of Art, Wales, UK. After receiving a Diploma in Architectural Glass from The City & Guilds of London Institute, Hall assisted Lawrence Lee ARCA, Master of the Glass Department at the Royal College of Art in London. Hall's studies were completed with a year in Jerusalem researching Middle Eastern techniques in glass, particularly the art of gold leafing.

Career

In 1980, Hall established her own stained glass studio in Toronto. For the first four years, her studio was in an old storefront at 94 Tecumseth Street. She then moved to 30 Portland Street, where she shared the fourth floor of a large former warehouse with fellow glass artists Robert Jekyll, Steven Brathwaite, Karl Schantz, and Andrew Kuntz, along with photographers Robert Burley and Andre Beneteau. An early supporter of Hall's work in glass was June Callwood who commissioned her work for Jessie’s Centre designed by architect Jack Diamond. Numerous projects were accomplished in this studio (1984 -1990) created in the traditional stained glass technique with glass painting and silver stain.

In 1990, the growing number of commissions necessitated another move to her own studio – a 3000 square foot space in an old General Electric factory at 1440 Dupont Street in Toronto. There, Hall established a fully equipped design and fabrication studio. Several craftsmen assisted Hall in her work including John Wilcox, Rosiland Sokolosky, Harold (Hap) Straker and William Lindsay. Glass techniques were expanded considerably in this time to include large murals based on gold leaf techniques (used in the project Scotia Plaza), reverse painted glass, sandblasting and glass etching with hydrofluoric acid. Towards the end of this period, Hall worked with craftsmen at Sattler Stained Glass Studio in Nova Scotia to facilitate larger projects. Her contribution to the built environment was honoured in 1997 by the Ontario Association of Architects "Allied Arts Award." She was elected in 2002 into membership of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art.

As her projects continued to expand in size and complexity, Hall moved her fabrication work to the larger and better-equipped facilities in Germany; and by 2003, most of her work was being created under her artistic supervision at the studios of Glasmalerei Peters GmbH in Paderborn, Germany.

In 2004, Hall received a Chalmers Arts Fellowship from the Ontario Arts Council to research and include photovoltaic technology in her art glass installations. This initiated a deeper collaboration with Glasmalerei Peters. The first demonstration of PV technology was the "Northern Light" project co-ordinated by Concordia University at the Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC in 2005. In 2008, Hall and architect Clive Grout received an award from the American Institute of Architects for "Lux Nova", their photovoltaic art glass installation at Regent College, UBC. Canadian violinist Oliver Schroer composed music for "Lux Nova" and several concerts of his music were held at the studio.

An important mentor for Hall’s work in solar power was the physicist Ursula Franklin. A project called the "Wisdom Windows" honouring Rose Wolfe and the women of Massey College was commissioned by Master of the College John Fraser as a result of this mentorship. In 2008, Hall completed a building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) project for Grass Valley School in Camus, WA. This was followed by "Leaves of Light", at the Life Sciences Building at York University, and the "Waterglass" solar art facades at Harbourfront Centre. Hall’s most extensive solar project has been the monumental south windows entitled "Lux Gloria" at The Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This is one of the sunniest cities in Canada with over 2268 hours of sunlight per year, and with more than a thousand solar cells in this installation, the Cathedral provides power to the electrical grid. Although the focus was on solar integration in this period many projects were created in other techniques including glass mosaic, appliqué, screen-printing and fused glass.

In her most recent work, Hall continues to explore innovative approaches to pressing environmental issues. In addition to bringing third generation photovoltaics (organic solar cells) into architecture, she is looking for ways to mitigate the worldwide problem of bird strike. This man-made plague causes some 100 million bird fatalities per year caused by bird-skyscraper collisions. Hall is working with researchers at the American Bird Conservancy to integrate new patterns and surfaces in architectural glass that will warn birds away and collect energy from sunlight at the same time.

Throughout her career Hall has sought to improve human environments through the medium of architectural glass. Over the years she has discovered creative ways to tackle global problems while maintaining the aesthetic integrity of her works - finding ways to develop greater energy autonomy and to live in harmony with the natural world.

A Selection of Solar Works

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  Lux Gloria, Cathedral of the Holy Family, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (2011)
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  Lux Nova, Regent College, UBC, Vancouver (2007)
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  Waterglass, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario (2011)
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  Diagram on Hall's Solar Art Project at Grass Valley Elementary School (2009)
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  Leaves of Light, York University, Toronto, Ontario (2011)

A Selection from A Thousand Colours Sarah Hall Glass

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  Radiance, Reflection, Revelation, First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, Ontario (1993)
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  St Thomas A'Beckett Tower Windows, Canton, Michigan (2000)
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  World Youth Day, Koln (2005)
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  Gwen Harris Concert Hall, Paradise Valley, Arizona (2006)
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  DSHA, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2015)
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  Grass Valley School, Camas, Washington (2009)
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  Waterglass, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario (2011)
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  Twilight View Cathedral of the Holy Family, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (2011)
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  Cathedral of the Holy Family, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (2014)
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  St. Barnabas on-the-Desert, Paradise Valley, Arizona (2010)
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  St. Catherine of Siena, Columbus, Ohio (2000-2006)
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  St. Patrick's Home, Ottawa, Ontario (2013)
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  Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, British Columbia (2016)
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  Christ Lutheran Church, Waterloo, Ontario (2007)
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  Scioto Ridge United Methodist Church, Columbus, Ohio (2007)
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  Massey College, University of Toronto, Ontario (2009)
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  St. Teresa of Calcutta Elementary School, Cambridge, Ontario (1998)
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  Greenwood College School, Toronto, Ontario (2016)

Books featuring Sarah Hall

• Torgerson, Mark A. 2012. Greening Spaces for Worship and Ministry: Congregations, Their Buildings, and Creation Care. Herndon: Alban Institute/Rowman & Littlefield. (Page 154 - 155).
• Schwebel, Horst, ed. Glasmalerei für das 21. Jahrhundert. (Band II). 2012. Paderborn: Glasmalerei Peters GmbH. (Page 67, 77, 99, 102 - 103, 129).
• Porter, J.S. 2011. The Glass Art of Sarah Hall. Herndon: Paderborn: Glasmalerei Peters GmbH.
• Philippart, David, ed. 2001. Basket, Basin, Plate, and Cup: Vessels in the Liturgy. Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications. (Cover, page 20).
• Crawford, Gail. 1998. A Fine Line: Studio Crafts in Ontario from 1930 to the Present. Toronto: Dundurn Press. (Page 156 - 158).