If you’ve traveled in Europe, you’ve probably seen some magnificent stained-glass windows. When most people couldn’t read or didn’t have access to books, churches, particularly cathedrals, displayed imagery depicting religious stories. Everyone had constant access to dramatic, colorful stained glass and carved representations of sinners and saints. Stained glass has been used historically as an architectural, instructional component, and we can all feel that pull of color when we enter a space with a stained-glass window.
While stained glass is still used as architectural art (have you seen the Chagall windows at Lincoln Center in NYC?), over time the art of creating it has become accessible to almost everyone. With access to so much imagery and how-to tutorials online, a surge in interest in traditional crafts among all ages (a healthy antidote to digital life), and the popularity of maker spaces, workshops and local craft studios, stained glass is enjoying a new wave of popularity.
If working with colored glass to make something beautiful interests you, you’re in luck. Kerry Carrillo of My Mind’s Eye Creations has been working in stained glass for decades, and has a fully equipped teaching studio in Prescott where she teaches individuals of all skill levels this timeless art. With years of experience, Kerry is a kind, thorough instructor with a clean, tidy and very well organized studio designed to make it easy to move from one step in the process to the next.
Originally from Texas, Kerry started her artistic pursuits in ceramics, but took a stained-glass class in 1978 and was immediately hooked. In 1980 she moved to Prescott and connected with the Dalke family, who owned a stained-glass supply shop. Kerry taught classes there and, with a teaching certificate awarded based on her life skills, at the Sedona campus of Yavapai College.
She moved back to Dallas and did commission work for six years before finally coming back to Prescott for good. In 2021 she retired from her day job and was able to throw herself into creating and teaching stained glass full-time. She found a studio space on Sandretto Drive with ample space for a little gallery and a big work space. She joined the Studio Tour and maintains a busy schedule of workshops and classes.
Over the years Kerry has collected lots of scrap glass and come up with a good way to use it creatively. Her beginners class she calls “organic,” where over two days students piece together bits of scrap, cut and assembled as free-form pieces. It’s a gentle, relatively painless introduction to stained glass, and students go home with a lovely finished piece. “What I get out of this is seeing people create who don’t think they can. They’ve been told by art teachers or their friends that they’re not creative. Those are my favorite students,” says Kerry. After this class students can move on to more advanced classes or pay for studio time to work on their own. There are classes for two-dimensional work and 3D work, as well as a lamp class. Classes do not exceed four people. Open studio sessions occur four or five times each month, costing $45 per day, and can accommodate up to eight people. Kerry arranged the studio equipment in the order in which it is used, and glass is carefully sorted and stored by color.
Kerry’s gallery/studio is a fabulous addition to the annual Artists Studio Tour. People come in through the gallery and pass through into the studio space. Many are inspired to ake a class, and often tell their friends. Kerry is happy to schedule private group classes.
Last year Kerry received an opportunity to show her work in Nepal in a show titled “Cultural Echoes Between the Rockies and the Himalayas.” The participating artists raised funds to provide wheelchairs for Bodhisattva in Action, an organization that teaches people who’ve become disabled to practice traditional crafts and make a living. Kerry’s piece was the only stained glass in the show, and she donated it rather than opting to take it home. Stained glass is not part of Nepalese culture, so most of the Nepalese had never seen this art form. “I may have the only piece of stained glass in Nepal!”
Kerry Carillo’s work will be featured in a show on the ‘Tis Gallery mezzanine with Laurie Silver, a student of Kerry’s and multimedia artist, January 15-March 15. The artists will be present during the 4th Friday Art Walks in January and February to visit and talk about their work.
For more on Kerry and class offerings, visit MyMindseEyeCreations.com. Kerry’s gallery and studio are at 1040 Sandretto Drive Suite K in Prescott.
