Light Images Glass
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STAINED GLASS ART BY

Janet Smith

Collection
Stained glass allows nature to play with art on its own terms 
Ingredient No. 1

Light


All colors depend on light. It bends, reflects and disperses into a wide spectrum of wavelengths, illuminating the world around us, making possible our sense of sight. 
Ingredient No. 2

Design


Design expresses the process of developing a path to construction for a desired outcome. Sometimes thought through in its entirety, many times left to the direction of the moment.
Ingredient No. 3

Craft


The faculty of executing well what one has devised to achieve. The use of skill and experience to shape materials and bring out the highest of their qualities.
refelction in window janet smith light images glass
Light streaming through the hanging window panel onto the window sill.
window panel in home janet smith light images glass

Combining new and ancient techniques with contemporary images 


The process of stained glass dates to medieval times, and involves using various metals to hold together individually hand-cut pieces of glass.

I have enjoyed
 incorporating other elements--sheets of copper, brass or nickel silver, copper tubing, glass rods, low fire hand-painting and kiln-fired glass, creating my own unique approach to this art form.

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My background in painting (BFA 1979 VCU) and my love of nature drew me to glass over 40 years ago. It interacts with its environment, and changes with the light of day and night. It has a unique ability to invoke a sense of place, the quality of light on a landscape, or the state of mind one brings to these things.  -  Janet Smith
Each one is handmade and unique

FEATURED PIECE
ascent janet smith light images glass
ascent in home janet smith light images glass
ascent detail janet smith light images glass
Ascent
#721 - 14” × 34” x 4”
Materials: light amber, aqua, and medium gray glass panels, fused glass inlays, bevel glass in a wrought iron stand​.

UNIQUE MATERIALS

Hand Painted Glass


Using a unique low-fire process to back-paint clear textured glass allowed me to produce a virtually limitless palette of color and texture.
hand painted glass janet smith light images glass

fused glass janet smith light images glass

Kiln-fired Glass


Using techniques dating back to ancient Egypt and Rome, pieces of clear, colored and dichroic glass were fused at high temperatures to create a single sheet of glass. Sometimes these sheets were "slumped" into molds to create unique textures.

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Metal Inlays


Sheets of copper, brass or nickel silver were incorporated into pieces. In many instances a patina was added to achieve a range of colors..
metal inlays janet smith light images glass

Picture

Copper Tubing


Pliable cooper tubing was hand bent to emphasize lines and shapes, while adding surface texture and structural strength.

Dichroic Glass


Dichroic glass is produced by stacking layers of opaque black or clear glass with microlayers of metals and oxides. This causes the color of the glass to shift dependent upon viewing angle. Clear dichroic glass will transmit one color through itself, while reflecting a different second color.
dichoric glass janet smith light images glass

moretti rods janet smith light images glass

Effetre (Moretti) Rods


Traditionally used in torch-worked glass pieces, these handmade rods are produced in Murano, Italy  from a soda-lime glass. They come in variety of unique styles. I incorporated them into many of my pieces to add dimension and color.

Beveled Glass


​Acting as a prism in sunlight, beveled glass creates interesting color diffraction which both highlights the glass work and provides a spectrum of colors thrown onto nearby surfaces. The angled cuts of the bevels also provide the eye with multiple viewing planes as one walks past.
Picture

wrought iron stands janet smith light images glass

Wrought Iron Stands


Custom handmade wrought iron stands were made in collaboration with master welder Herbert Underwood.

"My pieces are an ever changing interaction of light and glass."

Janet Smith - Light Images Glass
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Stained Glass Artworks created by Janet Smith, Light Images Glass
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