Sign up for Bild-Werk Frauenau glass painting courses and symposium

Germany’s Bild-Werk Frauenau, a hub for glass and art learning based in the Bavarian region, has launched an exciting programme of stained glass-focused summer academy courses, a masterclass, plus a one-day symposium.

Designed for glass artists of varying abilities, and artists in general, there will be three international stained glass courses in the summer, followed by an autumn masterclass and the one-day symposium, entitled ‘Risk and Resonance’. Students will be taken on a tour of discovery in traditional and new pathways in this artistic medium.

The summer stained glass-focused courses (among many others on other aspects of glass and art) are: [course 5] ‘Stained Glass: Transforming Light’, with Sofía Villamarín (7-14 June 2025); [course 13] ‘Architectural Stained Glass: The Journey from Paper to Glass’, run by Catrin Jones (5-18 July 2025), and ‘Stained Glass and the Hot Shop: Enchanted Painting’, led by Kalina Bańka-Kulka (6-22 August 2025).

Then, from 27-31 October 2025, Mark Angus and Julia Kastler will present [course 35] ‘Risk and Resonance: Stained Glass Masterclass’. This class is for those with a working knowledge of glass painting and staining who want to aim higher and work with mouth-blown coloured glass (some flashed glass kindly supplied by Lamberts Glass Factory) in new, unexpected and unique ways. It is hoped that course participants will stay on for the Risk and Resonance symposium on 1 November 2025.

Risk and Resonance symposium

Artists and makers, manufacturers and institutions in education, studio glass, public art and architecture are invited to the symposium on 1 November 2025.

The event will review the experiences of a summer in stained glass; expert lectures and discussions will address the contemporary issues of maintaining heritage, public recognition and visibility, promotion of young talent, and border-crossing networking and exchange. More details will follow in due course.

Risk and Resonance aims to explore new futures for stained glass and glass painting in their many facets, making Frauenau a forum and hotspot for stained glass and glass painting. The project is a collaboration with the Lamberts Glass Factory in Waldsassen,

Bavaria, which pushed for the inclusion of hand glass making, and especially mouth-blown sheet glass, as intangible cultural heritage on the German national UNESCO list.

European art and glass schools may be able to send participants via funding from the Erasmus+ learning mobility programme. The UK is not a participant of the Erasmus+ scheme.

See the full range of Summer Academy classes offered at Bild-Werk Frauenau via this link.