HAMILTON Gallery (HG) received high praise in Melbourne on Tuesday evening from the Victorian Museums and Galleries Awards, specifically for a brilliant exhibition of a local stained glass artist - receiving a superb result of ‘Highly Commended’.

In August 2022, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of his first exhibition at the then-new local gallery, ‘Luminous: John Orval, Stained Glass Artist’ was opened with great enthusiasm and impressed many with its innovative variations of the traditional skills the man demonstrated not only in the Western District, but across the state.

John’s son, Noel Orval, said he was extremely “chuffed” and added, “really proud of it - always good to get a bit of recognition”.

Noel said he was sure his father would also have been happy, but his craft was never about accolades.

“Dad was never looking for fame,” he said.

“He was looking more for respect and acknowledgement more than anything.”

The announcement received raucous applause at ACMI (formerly Australian Centre for the Moving Image) with judges commenting, “Hamilton Gallery has accomplished an ambitious project with limited resources, and their scholarly approach to exhibition-making has left an impact on audiences and made a significant contribution to Australian art history”.

“When we were announced Highly Commended, we had one of the warmest receptions in the room,” HG acting director, Amelia Jones said.

“This is a testament to the scholarly, collaborative, and community-based nature of the exhibition, the impact of the works, and the social history of the exhibition itself.”

John - actually named Jean when he was born in Holland - arrived in Australia in 1953 after learning the craft and after three years in Port Fairy came to Hamilton to create window dressings for department store John Thomson & Co, but soon he was also doing sign writing, Christmas decorations and large murals.

Noel said his father’s first commission with stained glass was with St Mary’s Catholic Church in 1959 “and during that process he build the studio in Rippon Road”, eventually making 160 church windows “which is a big effort for a little town like Hamilton”.

What made the original exhibition in 1962 so unique was that it was the first of its kind in Australia, but despite this, Noel said there did always appear to be a separation with the local understanding of John’s artistic acumen.

An example of this is one of the artworks displayed in last year’s exhibition, a tender in 1961 by John for a major feature to adorn the then-new art gallery.

The impressive proposal was a massive collection of stained glass panels depicting local life and environment.

A website honouring John’s life work has this to say about its rejection: “For reasons lost in time, City Council opted for an outsider’s vision of the Greek mythical figure Prometheus”.

Another example is how many large murals in the department store were lost - just painted over during a renovation.

“The Western District just wasn’t ready for it,” Noel said.

John died in March 1987, apparently with some level of disillusionment with how his art was treated, someone whose talents appeared to be ahead of their time.

However, with this recognition of last year’s Hamilton exhibition, plans for a book by art historian, Dr Bronwyn Hughes OAM, and another exhibition planned for 2025 - this time in Sale, Gippsland - there will an opportunity for even more people to appreciate John Orval’s luminous work.

The website orvalstainedglass.com also has detailed information about his creations.