Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Shawn Waggoner
  • 4.6 (81)
  • VISUAL ARTS
  • WEEKLY SERIES

Former editor of Glass Art magazine Shawn Waggoner interviews internationally respected artists and experts in hot, warm and cold glass. For questions or comments shawntelroyale@yahoo.com

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  1. EPISODE 1

    Derek Hunt: Inspiring the Next Generation of Stained Glass Artists

    Derek Hunt is an award-winning glass artist and educator, a Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an accredited stained glass conservator. He designs and makes glass artworks for public spaces, private homes and churches using methods to include traditional stained glass as well as working with new techniques such as screen and digital printing to push the creative boundaries of the medium.  In addition to creating and restoring stained glass works, Hunt hosts specialist Master Classes throughout the year at his studio in Leicestershire, teaching adults glass painting methods and techniques. Additionally, he runs a popular YouTube channel making inspirational videos and tutorials as well as podcasts with his favorite stained glass artists. His Instagram is part promotion and part inspiration for anyone interested in the medieval art and craft of stained glass. Says Hunt: "My ambition is to ensure new stained glass not only survives but thrives in the 21st Century, and the very best way to do that is to inspire the next generation." Born in 1962, Hunt is a mentor for stained glass artists on the BBC series Make it at Market. He earned his B.A. (Hons) Degree in Art and Design from Edinburgh Art School, 1980 – '84. He established his studio, Limelight Studios Ltd., in 1985. The artist won a Guildford Design Award for his 9-panel memorial window at St. Martin's Church, East Horsley, Guildford in 2025. Other notable Hunt works include a new north aisle window for St. Mary's Church , Melton Mowbray  in memory of John Plumb, a major church benefactor. The Tree of Life includes the coat of arms for Melton Borough Council and Melton Mowbray Town Estate. Other local references include a pork pie and Stilton cheese, and a dove with a brush dipped in red paint. This refers to an 1837 incident in which a drunk Marquis of Waterford and friends painted Melton Mowbray's toll-bar and other buildings red. For John Rylands University Library Manchester, Hunt created an 11-meter-tall glass sculpture entitled Totem, situated in the new extension to the Manchester University Library. Using a combination of digital printing and bonded handmade antique glass, the sculpture is back lit with an arrangement of LED lights. The design includes various visual references to the library's archive collections of important first edition books. Hunt has also undertaken stained glass conservation work on a number of notable buildings including Glasgow Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, Kenilworth Castle Warwickshire, Oscott College Birmingham, Staveley Hall Derbyshire, Ayscoughfee Hall Lincolnshire, Manor Lodge Sheffield and Nevill Holt Hall Leicestershire. Says Hunt: "I help artists build their skills, confidence and creative style in stained glass. If you want to learn all about creating beautiful stained glass you've come to the right place. I'll help you navigate your creative journey, giving you the confidence to create. It's safe to say I've got lots of experience on everything to do with designing, making and conserving stained glass. Every project is unique, with a focus on collaboration and community engagement being at the heart of my many commissions."

    1h 22m

  2. EPISODE 2

    Stephen Dee Edwards: Studio Glass Pioneer, Glass Caster, Educator

    Talking Out Your Glass podcast

    1h 11m

  3. EPISODE 3

    The Pain and Pleasure of Karisa Gregorio's Stained Glass

    Karisa Gregorio's autonomous stained glass panels explore themes of sex, death, God, the Devil, pleasure, temptation, intimacy, love, lust, and indulgence. The relationship between glass and light in stained glass allows her to create works that feel alive. Using traditional processes as well as techniques developed by modern stained glass master Judith Schaechter, the depth and intimacy of Gregorio's materials create a world in which the pleasures of the flesh and emotions of the heart are equally illuminated and illuminating. Having received her BFA in Craft + Material studies, with a major in glass and minor in figurative illustration from the University of the Arts in 2016, Gregorio was named a 2025 MacPherson-Wortley Emerging Artist and received the Glass Art Society (GAS) Emerging Artist Award. Generously funded by Nancy and Roger MacPherson and Barbara and Richard Wortley, the MacPherson-Wortley Emerging Artist Award is presented annually to three exemplary emerging artists in the glass community. This prestigious juried award includes a cash prize, a special lecture slot at the annual GAS Conference, a digital exhibition catalog, and a residency at the Chrysler Museum of Art Perry Glass Studio. "We are honored by the MacPhersons and Wortleys' visionary commitment to emerging artists. Their support allows us to expand what our Emerging Artist Awardees receive; a larger cash prize and a residency can be remarkable opportunities for emerging artists as they seek to expand their practice," said Brandi P. Clark, GAS executive director. In 2024, Gregorio's work was featured in a solo exhibition Worldly Pleasures at Rick Prigg's Gallery 26 in Philadelphia. Serving as adjunct professor in glass at The Crefeld School as well as coldworker at John Pomp Studios, TA for Glenn Carter Assemblage at Pilchuck Glass School, studio assistant for Judith Schaechter, and TA for Wes Valdez and David King, Gregorio has been the owner of Thirst Glass since 2020. Gregorio aims to one day create a cathedral in which enlightenment comes from the experiences in life that, in her opinion, make life worth living. She seeks to create an environment in which relationships between the viewer and work, and the relationships between people, are not limited, but allowed to be felt and fully indulged in.

    40 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Rick Beck: Casting Large-Scale Industrial Objects and Figural Forms in Glass

    Rick Beck's modern cast and carved figurative glass sculptures are inspired by industrial and architectural works as well as the human form, with an emphasis on formal aspects. Interested in playing the volumes of mass against the rhythm of the lines, Beck enjoys the interplay of the visual versus the verbal, creating art that challenges the eye as well as the mind. Beck states: "My wife, Valerie, got me a book about the competitive relationship between Picasso and Matisse. Their artistic dialogue about the figure has fired my imagination, especially the way they shared and borrowed images and ideas from one another, as well as from history and literature. Between this book and visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, I've been inspired by the use of shape, form, and mass to create something more universal than the literal subject." A studio artist who was based in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, for 30 years before moving to Hawaii in 2020, Beck began working in glass at Hastings College in Nebraska, where he received his BA. The artist received his MFA from Southern Illinois University, where he studied with Bill Boysen. He was awarded residencies at the Appalachian Center for Crafts 1989 to 1991, and in 1994 received a Visual Arts Fellowship from the North Carolina Arts Council, followed by a National Endowment for the Arts regional Visual Arts Fellowship from the Southern Arts Federation in 1995. A student of the Studio Glass movement, Beck has assisted at Pilchuck Glass School, assisting artists Curtiss Brock and Jan Mares, as well as at the Penland School of Craft.   Beck currently shares a studio with wife Valerie Thomas Beck in Hakalau, Hawaii. Valerie has been a designer and co-conspirator to Rick since 1984. Both artists have been artists-in-residence at Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina, (1991-94) and have also been instructors there. Their blown glass work consists mainly of vessels – canvasses for imagery based on dreams and experiences ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. These vessels document their lives while providing beauty and pleasure. Since moving to the Big Island, Beck's challenge in making glass work is two-fold. First, to create work without using fossil fuels or adding to the demand for capacity on the electrical grid. Their new studio is powered by a solar/photo voltaic and battery system. Second, to create work that excites and challenges his concepts of art inside these new energy parameters. For him, formal aspects are crucial. Beck stretches and manipulates common shapes and objects, reducing the objects to pattern and geometry. Currently, he is producing work focusing on the geometry of life, plant, and human forms.  Beck's work will be on view in 2026 at Blue Print Gallery, Dallas, Texas, opening February 26; at Hidell Brooks Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, in May; at Blue Spiral 1 group show, Asheville, North Carolina; and at Ken Saunders, Chicago, Illinois. His work is also represented by Raven Gallery, Aspen, Colorado.

    50 min
See All Season 11 (4)

4.6
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81 Ratings

About

Former editor of Glass Art magazine Shawn Waggoner interviews internationally respected artists and experts in hot, warm and cold glass. For questions or comments shawntelroyale@yahoo.com

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