The Thing About Hearts

The Covid crisis led to a personal mental crisis for the first year or so.

I had just closed my retail shop two weeks before Covid hit and was planning to go full time into facilitating art workshops. The excessive water that came through the ceiling of my downtown shop the first week of February was the last straw in my decision to close my brick and mortar establishment. The waterfall in my building ended up becoming a God Wink, as I was relieved of that financial obligation before the Covid lockdown.

But because of the pandemic, workshops were suddenly  out of the picture. My new normal as everyone else’s was embracing the walls of my home, The House of 8.  Thank the Great Buddha for The Twins, Winston and Briskett, my Labrador and Cat-dog to keep me on this side of sanity.

Towards the end of January 2021, I had gotten to the point where I knew I had to do something.

One artistic media I have played around with off and on for years is stained glass. My Dad worked in Downtown Charlotte (now Uptown Charlotte) for over 35 years til the 1980’s. He was a friendly man who loved to talk; therefore, he knew a variety of folks. Two were the owners of a stained glass shop on the corner of Graham and 9th Street. The name of the shop escapes me, but June was one of the owners.  Dad would often visit as he worked on 8th Street. On one of his visits, he insisted I go with him.; His unspoken plan was for me to take stained glass classes. Of course I resisted at first, but eventually gave in. I was thankful I did. June became a creative mentor and was very encouraging through my initial struggles working with glass.

While I worked with a couple of projects via patterns to begin with, I quickly learned intuitive free form designs spoke more to my heart. I’m glad I experienced working with patterns though for the knowledge it gave me to move forward in a way which spoke to my Soul. 

My Soul needed a bit of healing in January of 2021 and I was led to create hearts out of glass.

My studio is in a two story garage at The House of 8. While it’s a cool old building, it’s drafty and challenging to heat. So, into the house I ventured with my supplies:  glass cutter, pliers, foil, flux, soldering iron, solder, and etc. My round vintage kitchen table top became a studio table and away I escaped into creating hearts~ Art is truly a healing force. The hearts evolved as I cut different shapes that flowed from my cutter. Upon soldering I added whimsy accents of copper wire and sometimes beads. It was fun to reconnect with collected treasures to take the hearts further in design by adding other elements.

During this process, I often thought about how the world had halted and all the people who were forced to just be with themselves. I began to post the hearts on my FB page; they were met with tremendous response! Some were purchased as a gift to themselves; many to send to a loved one. It touched my heart to know how many people’s day was brightened by one of the hearts I created~

It’s lovely to be thought of….and to have a symbol in your window of light, love and comfort. One reason I have always been attracted to stained glass is the magic that happens when light hits the glass.