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Born in 1948, I began my
interests in art as a woodworker in my mid-20s building
bookcases and primitive style furniture which was
popular at that time. That interest grew to involve
other arts and crafts such as leather-working, nailed
tin art, wood burning, wood carving and uses of several
various arts and crafts media. Coming from a very
artistic family, I was intrigued when my parents took
stained glass lessons around 1978, but did not pursue it
as my own passion until about 1998. During those 20
years, I watched as my mother continued to achieve great
master pieces of stained glass art. I helped her on
special glass projects with creating pattern designs,
choosing glass colors and assisting her with difficult
tasks , but I still did not adopt
stained glass as my
primary interest until 1998.
One day, I determined to jump in and start slicing
glass. I fell in love with glass art and found that all
those years of spying over my mother's shoulder and
picking up fine points of instruction, combined with the
natural talent that I had inherited from both parents,
plus the experience from years of delving into all those
other areas of arts & crafts melted together to give me
a God-given edge of perception and skill which I have
honed to as near perfection as I possibly can. As with
all the other crafts that I ever pursued, I have studied
in depth, consulted with specialists and with my wife,
founded our local
stained glass
art guild which has given me great opportunities to
learn from others, exchange technique and further
improve my talent in glass art.
The other thing that I soon discovered was that I loved
to teach this spectacular art to others. Together, for
me to spend a few hours creating glass art combined with
teaching someone else how to do the same makes a perfect
day.
When my parents took their first classes at a local
junior college, the instructor was far from qualified
and did not teach them correct methods. He did little
to actually "teach" and there was no follow-up to the
course. My mother took it on herself to buy books,
track down other instructors and artists, finally
mastering her technique. I was blessed that she shared
all that she had learned with me and was properly
prepared to begin cutting glass when the day came. My
mother had already taught my daughter the art, so I had
her to coach me as well, but nothing takes the place of
the many hours at the work table, as my disability
allows, practicing
every detail until I get it just right.
At the end of ten years of creating and teaching, while
continuing to learn more as time has passed, I am
excited and anxious to create more stained glass art
while seizing every opportunity to teach others what I
have learned. The quality of my work and the work of my
students speaks for itself. Beautiful original
patterns, structural integrity, careful color choices
and fine Lead lines are found in each piece that I
create. My disability retirement has turned into a
blessing of ten years to concentrate as I pursued this
fantastic media of art. To be able to share this
knowledge with others is a joy that I relish. |
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