About - The Kaleidoscope Stained Glass

I started working with Jennifer two years ago when my daughter gave me a gift certificate to The ArtsCenter. I took a Saturday Workshop and came home with a finished suncatcher. I haven’t stopped going to her studio since. I am now on my fourth project and excited about future ones already in my head. Jennifer is always willing to share her extensive knowledge with those in her studio. She is always supportive and never discourages my ideas, no matter how crazy they seem. She explains things in a simple, easy to understand manner. Stained glass has become a passion and creative outlet for me and I give Jennifer credit for making it fun, possible, and accessible.

I first worked with Jennifer Austin 15 years ago. I saw an ad for stained glass instruction in The ArtsCenter brochure and decided I needed something to do just for me. Our class met weekly and learned the basics of glass selection, cutting, foiling, and assembly to prepare a small window. I was not gifted, but I was thrilled with the chance to make a stained glass window! Years later I took another series of classes, again constructing a window, but using different techniques. Jennifer ably supervised all of us working at different levels on different projects with good humor but guiding us so that we completed projects to be proud of. Both my windows are in my living room to this day. I retired last year and quickly contacted Jennifer, so I could embark on my five- year project, building a stained glass window like one from my former home in Baltimore. A year-and-a-half into the work, I am preparing to copper foil my two hundred + pieces and then solder them together. I know that this window will bring back memories to my family. And, I know I am learning a lot along the way. Jennifer is a wonderful artist, meticulous, an able guide from the first fundamentals of stained glass work to independent projects. Each of us has different needs for her assistance at different times and we pepper her with questions. I enjoy watching other students work through their various projects, too. It is my opportunity to learn a craft which I enjoy vastly, but couldn’t learn on my own.

Ten years ago, at the outset of my retirement, I signed up for Jennifer Austin's introductory stained glass workshop. It took! Since then I've produced well over a hundred pieces--too many at this point to keep track of. Jennifer is a gifted teacher/instructor/guide. Though possessed of exceptional expertise, she doesn't intimidate or overwhelm beginners with what she knows. Rather, her students are brought along with just the right mix of instruction and encouragement. She has a light teaching touch, laced with humor and a remarkable perceptiveness as to what each individual student is ready to take in.