The Story of How I got started in Stained Glass
Growing up I had a cousin, Bruce, that worked in stained glass and I followed him around like a puppy dog trying to learn how to create stained glass pieces. I guess I was annoying and he ditched me.
Fast forward to 1982, married and moved to New Mexico. I was married to someone that liked to be in charge and did not want me around other people (story for another time). He did allow me to take a stained glass class with a woman named Diane. We worked in her garage during the summer, it was a dry hot not humid hot. After taking a class and making a suncatcher and a stained glass panel, I want to learn and do more.
I needed tools and glass so I looked for stained glass supplies in the area and found Jill Fletcher, a stained glass artist that had a small supply store at her house. Jill and I became friends and she took me under her wing and spent years teaching me and sharing her knowledge with me as an apprenticeship.
When I moved from New Mexico, with husband #2, I took that learning and knowledge with me. Over the years my work improved as I worked in garage, potting sheds, a lanai and a formal living room. I started teaching in 2004 in Virginia.
In 2018 I bought a storefront in Historic Downtown Wilson, NC and named it Art Happens on Tarboro. Six years later I sold the storefront and moved back home to my studio, Shangri-La (that is another story)
Are you an artist, stained glass or other, what is your story?
