About the project:
Participants of the New Mills Project eARTh are currently working with textile artist Amanda Whewell to create a series of silk painting window hangings, inspired by the stained glass windows at Spring Bank Arts Centre, New Mills. The stained glass windows at Spring Bank Arts were designed by the famed, Victorian stained glass artist Charles Eamer Kempe. The windows contain a stunning visual variety of spiritual and secular motifs, all of which have provided artistic stimulus for our project participants.
Charles Eamer Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe was born in Brighton in 1837. 
Throughout the Victorian era, he was a famed designer and manufacturer of stained glass and church furniture.
Kempe studied at Oxford and wanted to be a Vicar, but he had a stammer which he struggled with so he decided to use his talents to decorate churches rather than to preach in them.
Kempe used the wheatsheaf as his trademark, this was a symbol that was taken from his family’s coat of arms.
Throughout his life, Kempe was a shy man who stayed single. He died in 1907 from a cold which had turned into congestion of the lung, for which he had refused to get medical help.
The Unveiling
The new silk panels will be unveiled on Thursday February 28th 2019 and will hang at Spring Bank Arts Centre for the enjoyment of all who visit it. For information on Spring Bank Arts, New Mills, visit:
https://www.springbankarts.org.uk/
