Upon graduating, in 1979, with an Interior Design degree and a minor in Stained Glass Design, from L.S.U., Jim moved to Seattle, WA. He worked for two years building and installing stained glass windows for an architectural glass studio. In 1982 he started Just Imagine Glass, designing and fabricating projects for res … Read more Upon graduating, in 1979, with an Interior Design degree and a minor in Stained Glass Design, from L.S.U., Jim moved to Seattle, WA. He worked for two years building and installing stained glass windows for an architectural glass studio. In 1982 he started Just Imagine Glass, designing and fabricating projects for restaurants around the Pacific Northwest. Jim bought his first kiln in 1983 and began to teach himself fusing techniques, there were no classes at that time. Starting in 1985 (to the present) Jim began doing retail and wholesale craft shows. They include the local Bellevue Art Museum show, where he has won several awards of excellence, Baltimore ACC, Smithsonian and Philadelphia Museum shows, and a purchase award at the American Craft Exhibitors, in Evanston,IL. His glass is exhibited, in galleries, nationally and is in numerous private collections. Following is a statement about his artistic philosophy and current work.
Through my 29 years of fusing glass, I have found that glass art runs the range of style and design from “less is more” to “God is in the details”. I choose to follow the detail. That aspect of art where some details are seen immediately and others are noticed over time.
Glass Fabric or TAPESTRY, as I like to call this work, begins by making pattern bars of glass stringer and/or strips of stained glass, slicing them into tiles, and fusing them together; creating sheets of glass with exciting patterns and wonderful details. This process takes several firings to achieve the final results.