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Who is Kim S. Joy?
I was raised in upstate New York and now live and work in Woodbridge, VA. I have been a stained glass artist and teacher since 1982. My work is in private and public collections worldwide. As a bead artist, I have been working since 2001. My jewelry pieces can also be found worldwide. Most of my pieces are in the traditional style and starting to branch out to incorporate materials not usually found in the medium. I have been taught by local artists in New Mexico and for bead work I have received instruction from PJ Solomanson of Kailua, HI and I apprenticed under Janet Flynn of the Beaded Rabbit in Great Falls, VA. I came from a family with various artistic talents- watercolor, woodworking, quilting, stained glass, masonry and poetry. In following my ancestral footsteps I have chosen stained glass and bead work as my mediums to express my artistic heritage. I believe that though my pieces I can grow and learn more about the world around me and where I came from. I hope that my work will inspire and encourage others in their artistic endeavors. I belong to National Capital Art Glass Guild and PMC Guild. My work can be found at Local Colour LLC in Alexandria, Del Ray Artisans and at various local craft shows. |
Workbench in studio
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Sitting Area
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February 21, 2011 I was featured in an article in the Lorton Patch, click here to see the article or read it below.
Workhouse Artist of the Week: Kim S. Joy
Stained Glass: Flowers in February
Posted by Susan Francis , February 21, 2011 at 04:48 AM
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When Kim S. Joy learned she’d be the Workhouse Building 9 featured artist in February, she decided her show’s theme would be flowers. “I’m not a real fan of flowers,” she said. “But I thought I’d push myself to overcome that resistance, and bring something bright and cheery into the cold winter.”
Joy’s stained glass exhibitionFlowers in February includes free-standing, three dimensional objects; plant pokies, a flower on a long rod to us in a garden or a planter; and single flower sun catchers that hang in a window. “I’m going to start the show with about two dozen pieces and continue to add more during the month.” said Joy.
Joy works from photographs, drawings, architectural elements, tiles, and even coloring books. She projects a pattern onto a wall where she’s hung paper, then traces it. “I use pencil first, then trace over it with a Sharpie,” she said. She then lays the pattern on the glass.
“I love making larger pieces because they take more time,” said Joy. She said that her process of creating depends on how she feels that day. “If I feel adventurous, I will try new colors,” she said. “Colors dictate what I make.”
Her favorite piece in Flowers in February is a pink flower influenced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Glasgow born architect, designer and artist. “It’s a very pale pink and very pale green contemporary piece with clean lines” she said.
As a child, Joy loved creating art, but says she can’t draw to save her life. “I always worked with found objects like little sticks and pine cones, which I strung together into necklaces,” she said. She also enjoyed working with wood, creating three dimensional objects.
In 1982, Joy took a stained glass class and loved it. She was married to a man in the air force, and their travels forced her to try other art, too. “When we lived in Hawaii it was too expensive to have glass shipped to the Islands, so I took classes in jewelry and weaving,” she said. Joy continues to work in these mediums today, but they aren’t her preferred medium. “My first love is stained glass,” she said.
In addition to crafting stained glass, Joy also repairs it. “I’ve repaired some very interesting pieces that people bought in Europe and shipped back to the States,” she said. One was a church window she believes came from Belgium. “It was three feet wide and six feet long, packed for shipping with a painting behind it,” she said. The screw eyes from the frame broke pieces of the glass. “As I worked, it was interesting to consider who may have made it and how it came to be in my hands,” she said.
When making repairs, Joy looks for old glass to use in order to preserve the integrity of the window. “I keep old glass I’ve collected separated in a case,” she said. Often she obtains old glass from stained glass artists who are retiring and want to sell their supply. “A man in his 80s who had worked in stained glass for 40 years sold me his glass,” she said.
Joy says that she’s carrying on the artistic tradition of her family. “When I was younger I had a cousin who drove around in a van with a generator and repaired church windows,” she said. Also, her dad was a woodworker, and her great-great-grandfather was a painter in Scotland.
In addition to creating, Joy teaches jewelry making and stained glass with Arlington and Fairfax County adult education, at Fort Belvoir, and at the Workhouse Arts Center.
All of which might imply that Joy is a 9 to 5 person. She isn’t. “I believe you’re most alive when you want to learn and experience everything,” she said. “Even if you fail at something new, it builds who you are.”
Workhouse Artist of the Week: Kim S. Joy
Stained Glass: Flowers in February
Posted by Susan Francis , February 21, 2011 at 04:48 AM
Comment2
More
Popular Stories
· WEATHER ALERT: Fairfax County and Metro Washington, DC
· Opening of New Wegmans Postponed
· Job Openings in Lorton: Sales Rep, Teacher, Painter,…
· Snow Pics, Pedestrian Dies, Liquor Heists, Flight Delays…
When Kim S. Joy learned she’d be the Workhouse Building 9 featured artist in February, she decided her show’s theme would be flowers. “I’m not a real fan of flowers,” she said. “But I thought I’d push myself to overcome that resistance, and bring something bright and cheery into the cold winter.”
Joy’s stained glass exhibitionFlowers in February includes free-standing, three dimensional objects; plant pokies, a flower on a long rod to us in a garden or a planter; and single flower sun catchers that hang in a window. “I’m going to start the show with about two dozen pieces and continue to add more during the month.” said Joy.
Joy works from photographs, drawings, architectural elements, tiles, and even coloring books. She projects a pattern onto a wall where she’s hung paper, then traces it. “I use pencil first, then trace over it with a Sharpie,” she said. She then lays the pattern on the glass.
“I love making larger pieces because they take more time,” said Joy. She said that her process of creating depends on how she feels that day. “If I feel adventurous, I will try new colors,” she said. “Colors dictate what I make.”
Her favorite piece in Flowers in February is a pink flower influenced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Glasgow born architect, designer and artist. “It’s a very pale pink and very pale green contemporary piece with clean lines” she said.
As a child, Joy loved creating art, but says she can’t draw to save her life. “I always worked with found objects like little sticks and pine cones, which I strung together into necklaces,” she said. She also enjoyed working with wood, creating three dimensional objects.
In 1982, Joy took a stained glass class and loved it. She was married to a man in the air force, and their travels forced her to try other art, too. “When we lived in Hawaii it was too expensive to have glass shipped to the Islands, so I took classes in jewelry and weaving,” she said. Joy continues to work in these mediums today, but they aren’t her preferred medium. “My first love is stained glass,” she said.
In addition to crafting stained glass, Joy also repairs it. “I’ve repaired some very interesting pieces that people bought in Europe and shipped back to the States,” she said. One was a church window she believes came from Belgium. “It was three feet wide and six feet long, packed for shipping with a painting behind it,” she said. The screw eyes from the frame broke pieces of the glass. “As I worked, it was interesting to consider who may have made it and how it came to be in my hands,” she said.
When making repairs, Joy looks for old glass to use in order to preserve the integrity of the window. “I keep old glass I’ve collected separated in a case,” she said. Often she obtains old glass from stained glass artists who are retiring and want to sell their supply. “A man in his 80s who had worked in stained glass for 40 years sold me his glass,” she said.
Joy says that she’s carrying on the artistic tradition of her family. “When I was younger I had a cousin who drove around in a van with a generator and repaired church windows,” she said. Also, her dad was a woodworker, and her great-great-grandfather was a painter in Scotland.
In addition to creating, Joy teaches jewelry making and stained glass with Arlington and Fairfax County adult education, at Fort Belvoir, and at the Workhouse Arts Center.
All of which might imply that Joy is a 9 to 5 person. She isn’t. “I believe you’re most alive when you want to learn and experience everything,” she said. “Even if you fail at something new, it builds who you are.”
