Forty years ago, my partner Gerry Powers and I were awarded a commission to create the focal point for the new 6th Street Market Place in downtown Richmond, Virginia. Jerry designed the project, and I built the two ten-foot diameter stained glass windows. Ten-foot windows would not fit through my shop doors, so I built the windows in sections and assembled them on a large table outside. To reach the center, I built a moveable catwalk, an awkward way to work. For strength, I ordered a round three-inch steel tube to house the windows. Inside the ring, I soldered

It’s about more than the art. I use the same creativity running my business as I do my art. I work intuitively. I don’t have an hourly rate, ask for the price of materials, or record the time I spend on my projects—I never have. There is something freeing about not having to deal with all that. I have reinvented the business portion of my life to flow from my conscious to my subconscious and back again. It works most of the time, freeing me from numbers and letters, which my mind has difficulty with, and giving me more

At the beginning of my career, I thought that the more processes I developed in my studio, the more financially secure I would be. In many ways, this has proven true. Starting out making suncatchers, stained glass lampshades, and stained glass windows took years of uncertainty and financial challenges. Then, restoring sacred stained glass windows, primarily for churches without the resources to hire commercial companies. Acquiring an original set of Henry Lang Beveling machinery broadened my offerings after two years of trial and error practice before I had samples I was willing to show. Next, fusing, silvering, carving, and

Four years ago, a single mom and her two teenage sons contacted me about collaborating with them on a window for the new home they were building. The ideas were theirs; I just helped with color and construction. I’ve thought about what to write about this, but the photo says it all.

In 2013, my son Daniel and I created two rose windows for St. Thomas Aquinas Priory in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Dominican Friars at the Priory pray in the chapel beneath these two windows five times daily. Each symbol instructs the faithful and inspires prayer, which hearkens back to the purpose of stained glass in ancient times. Each painted piece was fired multiple times and painted using antique processes and techniques. The Dominicans are an old order, and we were pleased to create what they wanted using traditional materials and methods. At twenty-nine years old, I am most proud of

Looking closely at this window, you will see small, clear glass sculptures. Each is three to four pieces of 3/8-inch glass that I beveled on my 1915 beveling machinery and attached with UV adhesive. My idea was to create a stylized group of organisms appearing as Clif dwellers on an art glass window. The round, clear, beveled pieces represent eggs. It was a whimsical idea to brighten my day.

I wouldn’t say I like reinforcing bars in my windows. The general rule is to use a reinforcing bar every eighteen inches. However, I’ll sometimes add an extra one or two, like when the window is exposed to wind and rain. I’ll use 3/8″ or 1/2″ flat bars in a typical leaded glass window.They aren’t intrusive when placed perpendicular to the window, but no bars are better. When I started including branches in my designs, I would leave a space between the pieces of glass on either side, fill the space with solder, and sculpt it to look like

Around 1980, Jerry Powers and I worked on a restaurant called 5th Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. Jerry designed and I built the windows. The restaurant owner wanted an Art Deco theme in a row of windows that ran along the wall parallel to the bar, with tables between the two. We constructed the windows using various textures of clear glass held together with zinc came. We like zinc because it gives us straight lines and strength and allows us to hide reinforcing bars along the zinc. Occasionally, we get a pleasant surprise after installing our work as our windows

I created this window for a couple’s home in Oregon in 2018. It was for a landing window on the second floor. The glass is Lamberts, blown in Germany. I like how the reamy glass gives motion to the window, depicting wind blowing through the branches, detaching leaves, and carrying them to faraway places. I separated the spaces between the branches to give the window character and depth. To support the window, I layered various lengths of finishing nails in the spaces where the branches go before solder sculpturing. I enjoy making windows like this. Free form is much

What’s a Virginian without a coat of arms? I created this heraldry for the front door of a home in the Fan District in Richmond, Virginia, around 25 years ago. One can not change heraldry but only embellish it with the finest materials, stunning colors, and, of course, craftsmanship. I used blown glass from Lamberts in Germany. It has the deepest, richest colors and that marvel, flash glass. Flash glass is two layers of glass of various colors in one sheet. The beauty of it is that one can acid-etch or sandblast one layer to expose the other. This

Around 1989, I created this fused piece for a couple in Duck, on the outer banks of North Carolina. It was for a couple of kitchen doors on the third floor of their beach home. I had never created a fused project before. Fusing requires using formulated glass so all the colors are compatible. After cutting to my slightly oversized pattern, I overlapped the cut lines and fired to around 1150 degrees in my old pottery kiln. After installation, we discovered that as the sun moved across the room, the light would hang on the cut lines for a

Around 2008, a retired couple in Charlottesville, VA, began collecting some of my work. They lived in a small condo with many art pieces accumulated over the years. After downsizing into their new home, their living space had become quite crowded. One day, they contacted me, wanting to share an idea. We would like to have another one of your windows, but we don’t have another window. As the three of us made our way around their living area, we all spotted a space along a wall that had potential. I had an idea, but I knew I would

Around 1978, the Tobacco Company Restaurant in Richmond, Virginia, was turning its basement into a disco lounge. The owner had a design for the wall behind the dance floor, 40 feet long and 9 feet tall, of a Victorian restaurant and couples dancing. The only reason I can think of for him selecting this design is that he liked to decorate with stained and bevel glass from the period, and he thought it would fit right in. Sometimes, a design may not seem appropriate for the occasion, but it makes the customer feel more “High class” and willing to

The difference between a skylight and a laylight is a skylight function as a roof window, while a laylight is flush with the ceiling of an interior space.This particular laylight was a substantial 54″x54″ in size. Since I could control the lighting, I thought a summer nightfall theme with a moon passing over treetops would be interesting. I used dark blues from Lamberts Glass for the late evening sky and various shades of our flamed worked leaves for the tree tops. A simple lighting fixture supplied the moon effect. Once again, I was faced with how to support the

This is a kitchen skylight. I wouldn’t say I like reinforcing bars in my windows. The general rule for vertical windows is to add one every eighteen inches. I would figure two to three bars on a horizontal skylight like this one, 28″x 40″. My goal was to create a unique design that would give the illusion of looking through a skylight into the Fall tree tops above, with some of the leaves detaching from their branches and blowing in the breeze. This design left absolutely no room for straight reinforcing bars. The glass was Lamberts hand-blown from Germany.