Beverley Shore Bennett

Beverley Doris Shore Bennett (nḗe Shore; 1928 – 3 September 2024) was a New Zealand portrait artist and glass artist. Her work is included in the collection of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery and she was a Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters.

Biography Shore Bennett was born in Wellington to Edith Carter and Martin Shore. She attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate School from 1934 to 1945. Her art teacher there, Betty Rhind, gave her extra classes in portrait drawing. From 1946 to 1950, she attended Wellington Technical College

In 1948, Shore Bennett joined the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, exhibiting her work there, and continued as an exhibiting member until 1967. She travelled to England and studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art from 1951 to 1953, majoring in portraiture. While there, she had two portraits accepted for the 1953 Royal Academy summer show. At the dedication of the windows at Saint John's Cathedral, she said: "Glass is not just beauty, but communication; it should lead you to ponder, recollect and be inspired by the great Christian truths."

In 1969, she was asked to design the portable font for the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul by the dean, Walter Hurst, which then led to her being invited to design the Holm Memorial window for the cathedral. In the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to art.

It is estimated that over the course of her career, Shore Bennett designed between three and four hundred windows in churches, chapels and cathedrals around New Zealand. The couple had three daughters. Shore Bennett lived in retirement in Waikanae, and died there on 3 September 2024, at the age of 95.