Stained glass classes bringing culture and color to Las Vegas

Like most beginning students at the Glass Art Studio Inc., Christine Curtis Wilson made a tiny purple tulip from five pieces of glass for her first project in 2001. But instead of simply keeping up with the hobby after work, she made it her career.

"I had no idea that this was going to be my life's work," said Wilson, who left her finance job and is now owner of Christine's Glass Inc. "I had a passion for it. It was a little bud, but by taking those classes, it bloomed."

Glass Art Studio Inc., 4310 Cameron St., Suite 3, provides supplies and teaches classes for stained glass, fusing and mosaics. The store is lined with sheets of glass in an array of shades, all of which sit stacked in shelving below finished works. A full classroom, fit for eight students to work, is housed in the back of the shop.

Store owner Lee Foster, who has been working with glass for 30 years, said he teaches the classes with hands-on instruction.

"No matter what profession I've been in, I've always ended up teaching someone something," said Foster, who first worked in engineering and computer programming before buying his glass business. "I'm a wannabe full-time teacher."

His students say he thoroughly explains each step in the process from making the pattern to cutting the glass and putting the pieces together with foil or lead.

"Lee's class was the instrument to me getting where I am today," said Wilson, who was inspired to take his class from a leopard print stained glass panel her mom made when she was a child. Now, Wilson specializes in making animal print stained glass.

After teaching at the studio for a few years, Foster bought the business in 2003 and quickly expanded to the unit next door. He said he doubled sales within the first three years, but profits have since fallen back because the economy's decline. Last year, Foster squeezed his business back into the single-unit space on Cameron Street, but he added that he is grateful to shrink and not be forced to close like nearly all his competition.

"Most of our stuff is hobby-driven," Foster said. "Hobbies are one of the first things that go when disposable income goes."

For many people like himself and Wilson, however, the love for the hobby keeps them with the art for years, he said.

Foster started in glass-making after wanting to learn how to repair stained glass windows at his Chicago brownstone in the '80s. Roughly 30 years later, he stays busy making windows and repairing lamps or other works for customers.

One of his students has a similar story.

Barbara Merchant, a North Las Vegas resident, took Foster's beginning class in 2005, in hopes of making stained glass windows for her French doors. Seven years later, she is still with the hobby, even selling her work online and donating them to several silent auctions for charities. But she has been too busy making art for other people -- her doors are still without the windows .

"One day they will be done," the 54-year-old said with a chuckle.

Foster says that while some of his students become glass art experts, he knows most take the classes for fun.

"They're not coming here to learn the history of glass art; they can go to the library for that," he said. "Hopefully, people come and learn to make a little craft."

Don't be surprised, though, if that little project turns into something much greater.

Contact Southwest and Spring Valley View reporter Jessica Fryman at jfryman@viewnews.com or 380-4535.