Tools - Bean Sawyer’s table

I love this piece Bean wrote for us about her table. Not only is Bean a fabulously talented stained glass artist and illustrator, she is also a talented writer. Put your feet up and enjoy the story of her table. Angela

Bean Sawyer at work at her hard working table

“When I was eighteen, I was given some money for my birthday. I thought long and hard about what to spend it on. In the end, I bought a table.

As it turned out, that table would become one of the most profound and meaningful objects in my life. The catalyst of my artistic journey.

At the time I was doing an illustration course at Carmarthen School of Art. During term time, my desk was my sanctuary. I had everything I needed to lose myself in one place – a pot with paint brushes, a sketch pad, a journal, pencils and inks. In the crazy world of a teenager, my little desk was the only place I felt in control. It was where I had permission to experiment and make mistakes and sometimes, if I was lucky, make beautiful things.

So when I bought my very own table, subconsciously I had granted myself that same creative freedom, no matter where I was living or what was going on around me.

Often over the years, that well-traveled table has been one of the most stable things in my life. It’s seen my highs and lows from the corner of bedrooms, a few kitchens, a leaky barn, a shed, a garage and once from a tight space under the stairs. It’s supported my stained glass journey right from the very start, providing me with a solid foundation to express myself.

There was a time when it spent years neglected, piled high in paper and useless bits of clutter while I was preoccupied with other things. At other times it was a smoking hot production line of my own little cottage industry.

Now, thirty years on, it’s just had a much needed face lift with a new plywood top. It takes pride of place in ‘Willerby’, my newly converted caravan studio, supporting me, as ever, like a faithful friend whether I’m painting, printing, sketching, writing, making stained glass windows, or teaching others how to make theirs.

Bean Sawyer’s table laden with her tools and stained glass

It has to be said that it’s often the simplest pleasures in life that are the greatest. There is always a little moment of appreciation, a small exchange between myself and my table that happens when I’m tidying away the spoils of a finished project, sweeping away the debris of broken glass, and lead cement; lovingly dusting down the surface so I can sit down at my table once again with a blank piece of paper, poised, ready to go.”

A stained glass work in progress