One of an artist/craftsman’s most critical assets is feeling the material one is working with. I do not know of a way to teach another how to make a leaf from melting glass. I am aware one can stand over someone and direct them, but it is not until the maker takes the responsibility of thinking and feeling material that they will be able to achieve the many nuances needed to create an ongoing series of objects, each one unique unto itself. Many of my greatest joys in life have been achieving this flow in myself and seeing the

A few years into my craft, I was settling into my life’s work. I discovered the concept of the artist/craftsman, where one develops an idea, expresses it on paper, and then creates the object. This idea I was involved in from the beginning to the endcaptured my interest. Although I collaborate with a patron, I am responsible for 96% of the outcome. As I follow my commissions, I constantly reevaluate color and line development. This happens throughout the day, the next day, and even after installation. “Am I a helicopter artist?” Am I “overthinking the project?” The problem, as

It seems like all I do is make decisions. This isn’t a complaint; I like to make decisions. My problem is that my mind wants to keep working on them when I’m ready to do something else. This creates a short attention span for me. Most of the people around me know this. They know that if they want me to hear them, they should establish eye contact, or my head should at least turn in their direction. When I was in college over fifty years ago, down in East Texas, how people greeted each other was very similar

Around twenty years ago, I became bored with stained glass. The opalescent glass no longer amused me. It was dull and too consistent to be interesting. I often found myself drawn to nature’s translucency, especially sunlight filtering through treetops. Whatever the season, the ever-changing light and shadows and the flickering of color held my interest. I explored impressionist paintings to see how other artists interpreted this phenomenon with quick brush strokes, an almost reckless approach that brought a fresh, emotional feeling to the canvas. I wanted to create windows like they create paintings. I wanted a background of subtle