Art is my lifelong passion. When I look back over the years, I can see that my first public piece, a mural entitled “The History of Medicine,” completed in 1964 for the Ajax and Pickering General Hospital, determined much of the subsequent course of my life.
I was sixteen years old at the time and the mural was an assignment for art class at Ajax High School. My art teacher, Mr. Ian Black, was impressed with the design and decided to show it to the hospital administrator, Mr. K. J. McInnis. The architect of the new hospital decided there was a space for the mural on the third floor and so I was commissioned to paint it during the summer holidays. What a lucky break!
The final “History of Medicine” mural, painted in acrylics, measured approx. 6’ H x 20’ W. William Withrow, director of the Art Gallery of Toronto attended the unveiling, as well as the Hon. Earle Rowe, lieutenant governor of Ontario. I received a $200. savings bond for my work.
Following several years of study at the Ontario College of Art, I worked as a graphic artist while experimenting with different media including watercolour and acrylics. I fell in love with glass and its fascinating properties and was employed by the Durham Region YMCA to teach adult evening classes in stained glass. In 1980 I enrolled at the University of Toronto to pursue an Honours B.A. in Fine Art History and Studio. My aim was to gain a more thorough understanding and appreciation of art history. I also sought to increase the intellectual content of my studio work.
On graduation in 1983 there were few prospects for teaching art at the secondary school level. Since many of my youthful interests revolved around science and in particular medical science, I applied to the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine the following year and graduated with a BSc in Art as Applied to Medicine in 1986. I registered a company and proceeded to do free-lance work. This work included surgical drawings for doctors at Toronto General Hospital who were publishing their work in journals and illustrations for a book on Human Embryology with Dr. Keith Moore at the university. I also taught a class in “Conception, Pregnancy and Childbirth” at the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine.
My professional career designing architectural stained glass windows for Robert McCausland Limited began in 1987 when I answered an advertisement in the Toronto Star for a “fine artist, good in watercolour and figure drawing.” I knew nothing about the company that placed the ad. By then I had a great portfolio which included figure drawings with detailed muscle structure, media including watercolours and examples of stained glass. I was told that two hundred artists had applied for the job! Much to my surprise, I was hired.
This was not exactly the sort of designing I had planned to do but it was a fascinating challenge. It also offered the security of a full-time job with benefits, something most artists can only dream of. Architectural stained glass is a public art form. The window often serves as a memorial. It may also be a teaching aid to illustrate stories from the bible. This makes it quite different from ordinary art. An in-depth knowledge of biblical art history is required to understand the subjects, symbolism and iconography used in stained glass windows.
My passion for glass art and communicating with others through this medium led to designing over 1,400 publicly commissioned architectural stained glass windows, found in all ten provinces of Canada and abroad. Over a period of 37 years starting in 1987, I created watercolour designs for churches of all denominations, synagogues and other public buildings as well as private commissions.
Each of my watercolour designs, drawn to scale, was enlarged to its full size on a computer. The colours I used approximated the company’s inventory of around 450 different shades of hand-blown imported glass. A team of artists and craftsmen including glass cutters, glass painters and glazers painted and constructed the windows. The windows were then packed and shipped to their destinations to be installed.
Designing for the public gave me the satisfaction of working with the extraordinarily beautiful medium of glass and creating works of art that bought joy and meaning to peoples’ lives. The grief of losing a loved one can be excruciating. Working with a donor to express their love and sense of loss through the donation of a beautiful window was a privilege. There were often tears of joy from the client when their stained glass window was unveiled and our team of artists and craftsmen received many compliments.
In 2003 I took a break from designing stained glass and went back to the University of Toronto to do a Master’s degree. For my research project I designed and programmed an interactive website with realistic animations of the six universal facial expressions and the facial muscles that animate them. This was evaluated as a teaching tool for art instructors teaching life drawing and anatomy courses.
Two years later I graduated with a M.Sc. in Biomedical Communications. I considered changing to a teaching job but was offered a raise in salary to stay on as designer at Robert McCausland Ltd. I accepted Andrew McCausland’s offer and stayed until his passing in 2024. To satisfy my teaching instincts I volunteered as a docent (teacher/guide) at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Below are my most recent designs – a watercolour sketch for a St. Cecilia window for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and a Georgian Bay scene for St. James Anglican church in Orillia. The completed windows, installed in 2024 and 2025, are show for comparison. A book on the art history of Robert McCausland Ltd. stained glass windows, established in 1856, is in progress.
marleneherbst 