The mill or the Fine Arts?
On the wooden table, jet black rubs shoulders with amber and iridescent green. Immersed in an almost monastic calm, the sixty-year-old is busy connecting the different pieces of colored glass at his disposal. The gesture turns out to be meticulous, the gaze sharp. For good reason: Jan Goris has been honing this meticulousness for more than two decades.
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In 1977, this painting enthusiast left school to enter university. “My father worked as a miller at the mill and he refused to let me go to the Academy of Fine Arts. He wanted me to go to university“, he recalls. Willy-nilly, the teenager studied literature and Germanic languages. He completed his studies in 1982 at UCLouvain. With his diploma in hand, this esthete at heart can (finally) indulge in your passion.For seven years, I attended evening classes at the Beaux-Arts in Brussels. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday to Thursday. I had to catch up on four years of classical learning“, he explains.
At the same time, Jan Goris juggles part-time teaching Dutch and English in Brussels. A fan of oil painting, as well as the language of Vondel and Shakespeare, the world of stained glass still remains a real terra incognita for the craftsman. In 1998, while he was living and teaching in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, a friend dragged him to a conference. “I wanted to go back, but he insisted that I stay. There was a presentation of Chagall’s paintings. They showed how they had transposed his works into stained glass“, he recalls.
Revelation. Glare. Jan Goris discovers “paintings made of light”. The same evening, on his way home, he quickly opened a telephone directory and rang Antwerp Artistic Glass, a glass specialist based in Flanders, to take lessons. The appointment is set: Jan Goris begins – the next day – his apprenticeship in the city of diamonds.
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Pure light
Since then, he has received orders for individuals, churches and schools. The size of its stained glass windows varies from vasistas (small window fixed in a door, Editor’s note) to assemblies of several meters. In this second category, we find in particular the Sainte-Alix parish, in the heart of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, renovated on the occasion of its 60th anniversary.
The modus operandi of Orp-Jauchois? First rely on his first love: painting. “Each time, I start from an image that I created with gouache. Then, I reproduce it in stained glass by placing a layer on top.he explains, pliers in hand. Sometimes modifications or adaptations emerge. “Some clients only ask for blue, others for very specific shapes. But, more often than not, I have free reign.”
Here, there is no symmetrical drawing whose straight lines represent known shapes. Halfway between art nouveau and Kandinsky’s paintings, the artisan adopts an abstract style, sometimes far from the rigid religious iconography of the stained glass windows. “I don’t necessarily do figurative work. It’s always a surprise, for the customers and for me.”he says, readjusting his long white locks which fall on his shoulders.
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Improvisation also plays a crucial role. If a pink piece is missing, Jan Goris does not hesitate to turn away from his initial model and draw on other shades. Like any master glassmaker, however, he has a signature: placing pieces of transparent white glass allowing threads of pure light to escape from the magma of colors. According to him, “this process automatically attracts the eye“.
Woluwe, Peru and the little ones
Probably tired of the tumult of the capital, he moved to Mons before going into exile in Peru between 2010 and 2015. On the lands of the former Inca Empire, he created an immense creation for the Fleur Lodge, a hotel nestled in the curves rocky Carhuaz. “I put the glass in my suitcases and left for Peru. Only three fragments were damaged“, he recalls.
Returning from South America, he returned to settle in his childhood village of Orp-Jauche, on the borders of Walloon Brabant. It is from his modest workshop, surrounded by his rabbit and his dog, that this retired stained glass artist now produces his works.
A work of art, but which does not neglect recovery. It must be said that the man carefully follows the precepts of Lavoisier: nothing is lost, everything is transformed. Thus, it stores both small shards and large plates of Kokomo glass. “I buy large sheets, then cut them up. Gradually, the pieces shrink. But I don’t throw anything away, I reuse. The falls are also used“, insists the sixty-year-old.
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Rest!
Leaning against a window, Jan Goris arranges the shades of color. Once the mosaic is filled, he must connect the pieces with lead or copper (also called Tiffany). The different materials do not only have a practical use. They also modify the final rendering of the stained glass windows. “Lead gives a more contrasting character. On the contrary, lThe copper strips have a fairly fine finish“, says the craftsman. Once this step has been completed, all that remains is to insert putty. Two months of rest then follow to solidify the window.
By his own admission, this painstaking work brings him “breathing and calm“, far from “l’agitation“et you”stress“of are”ancien teaching job“. When he observes his creations, Jan Goris smiles brightly. Popular beliefs are indeed wrong: in Orp-Jauche, broken glass seems to bring good luck.
