User:Breidfjord/sandbox

Leifur Breidfjord
Leifur Breidfjord (born 24. June 1945 in Reykajvik, Iceland) is an Icelandic artist, painter and a stained glass artist. Leifur Breidfjord has worked in his stained glass studio in Reykjavik since 1968.

Leifur studied at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts from 1962 -66 where he was fortunate to have as his tutor Kurt Zier, a German refugee trained in the Bauhaus tradition. It was he who considered that Leifur had an affinity for stained glass. Leifur studied stained glass at the Edinburgh College of Art from 1966 – 68 under Sax Shaw. From him Breidfjörd said, he learnt how to conduct proper preparatory research into the architietural space for which glass was intended, a systematic approch that he has followed ever since. Breidfjord studied later in 1973 and 1975 with Patrick Reyntiens at Burleighfield House.

In his studio in Reykjavik he has done most of his stained glass works but some of the larger commissions are done in stained glass studios in Germany. He has experimented with the stained glass as an artform, making stained glass sculptures and free hanging stained glass kites. Breifdjörd is regarded as the foremost stained glass painter in today’s Iceland. He has decorated a large number of churches and other public buildings in Iceland. He was awarded the Order of the Falcon in 2005 for his contribution to the art of stained glass in Iceland.

His numerous commissions, both public and private, can be found in buildings, collections, and churches in Germany, Scotland, England and the Sandinavian countries. He has exhibited paintings, watercolors, pastels and sculptures as well as stained glass during those years. The Robert Burns Memorial Window in St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland is one of his best known artworks. He is married to textile artist Sigridur Johannsdottir and they collaborated since 1974 in the art of woven tapestries and church vestments for many churches.

Location of major works
Robert Burns Memorial Window, St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland

The Catholic Church, Steibis, Germany

Ev. Jakobskirche, Münklingen, Deutschland

Stained glass window, Hallgrimschurch, Iceland

Bronzedoor, Hallgrimschurch, Reykjavik, Iceland

The National and University Library of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

Fella and Holachurch, Reykjavik, Iceland

German Embassy / British Embassy, Reykjavik, Iceland

The Supreme Court of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

Grand Hotel Reykjavík, Reykjavík, Iceland

External links === ==== Leifur Breidfjord official web site (http://www.breidfjord.com)

St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland www.stgilescathedral.org.uk/