New Exhibition opens at Grosvenor Museum!

Grosvenor Museum Exhibition opens this week - Illuminated: Trena Cox in Chester

An exhibition and programme of activities celebrating the life of Trena Cox, a twentieth century woman stained glass artist from Chester opens at the Grosvenor Museum on Saturday 15 February, and runs until Sunday 15 May.

Trena Cox’s artwork adorns churches across Chester, the northwest, north Wales and beyond, and despite being well-known in stained glass and decorative art circles, the legacy of this important artist has been all but forgotten in the public realm.

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council

This exhibition follows on from the hugely successful ‘Trena Cox: Reflections 100’ exhibition at Chester Cathedral in late 2024 featuring many of the same artist’s interpreting Cox’s work. The Grosvenor Museum exhibition will, however, focus more on Trena’s interests in the city of Chester, and her advocacy for its heritage, especially on Watergate Street.

Illuminated: Trena Cox in Chester, which has been curated by Aleta Doran in partnership with Chester Cathedral, the Grosvenor Museum, University of Chester and Recclesia Stained Glass, will share the newly-researched story of Trena’s impressive career in an accessible and engaging way, with commissioned art from local women artists and community groups responding to her glass in a variety of mediums.

Exhibition Curator and Chester Cathedral’s Emerita Artist in Residence, Aleta Doran, said: “Trena Cox made a huge contribution to this area through her vibrant stained glass, and as an advocate for the preservation of Chester’s heritage. Her story is part of the story of Chester, the city in which she lived and worked for over fifty years.”

As a result of Doran’s research, the significance of Cox’s work has been raised, resulting in the conservation of her St Christopher window in Chester Cathedral’s Slype, one of the most important windows in Cox’s early career. This conservation work was undertaken by Recclesia Stained Glass made possible with funding from the Couch Charitable Trust.

A programme of talks, workshops and family activities has been planned to take place as part of the exhibition.

This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The wider project, of which Illuminated: Trena Cox in Chester is a part, has received funding from the UK Share Prosperity Fund, Councillor Simon Eardley, The Ursula Keys Trust, The Megan Gwynne-Jones Trust and the Couch Charitable Trust.