Artistic Statement

John Hardisty (1948 - 2017) lived in Benton Newcastle and was known for owning Hardisty Cycles in Byker, but his main love was art and especially stained glass. He set up a shed to make his stained glass in his back garden and then opened an art gallery above the cycle shop. Even though the cycle shop was always lucrative and the gallery much less so he decided to sell the shop and concentrate on the stained glass in his garden studio.

His subject matter was varied and included the Lindisfarne Gospels Window at Durham Cathedral, windows at Pets Corner Cafe, Jesmond, windows for the Merchants Bank, Grinnell, Iowa, USA, and the Russian Summerhouse in his back garden that was greatly admired in the Britain's Best Sheds competition, ITV, 2014.