Breaking Good: Improvisational Stained Glass

with Devin Balara 
SCULP 693 001 | 1.5 credits | $125 Lab Fee
July 13–19

This class will provide a full overview of stained glass techniques. Using the copper foil method, students will learn to cut, grind, and solder colorful glass sheets and shards. Emphasis will be placed on experimentation, improvisation, and using what you find among existing scraps. We will explore three-dimensional form construction, template design, and strategies to use stained glass in your own practice. Those with previous stained glass experience will find space in this class to play and take risks, while beginners will come away confidently knowing the rules of glass—and how to break them!  We will engage in readings and ongoing discussions of color theory while considering artists who use color, light, and line, such as Hilma af Klint, Kerry James Marshall, Raúl de Nieves, and Wells Chandler. Assignments will invite students to find their way through a spectrum of glass pieces and arrange them with a focus on color harmony and intentional refraction of light. The class will culminate in a burst of site-specific installations throughout Ox-Bow’s campus.

Devin Balara,  Groundwater, 2024, glass, lead, zinc, and steel, 55 x 24 x 0.75 in.

Devin Balara (she/her) is an artist from Florida currently based in New Orleans. She received a BFA in sculpture from the University of North Florida in 2010, an MFA in sculpture from Indiana University in 2014, and has been pretending to be a geologist since 2020. Her work has notably been exhibited at Atlanta Contemporary, Ortega Y Gasset and Spring Break in New York, Roots & Culture in Chicago, the International Sculpture Center in New Jersey, and most recently at Coco Hunday in Tampa, Florida. She has worked for over a decade as a metal shop manager for various institutions including eight years at Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan. She currently is working as a freelance stained glass artist and educator.