Abeille Glassworks

Bridget Taylor

 

I’ve always had a fascination with architecture, specifically Victorian homes. I remember drawing detailed images of cathedrals and houses in grade school, and then again when I took art courses in college, noticing how stained glass windows and accents added so much interesting detail and character, enhancing the architectural value of buildings. I fell in love with the Victorian homes in San Francisco when I lived in the lower Haight district, near Golden Gate Park, more Victorian homes in Wellington, New Zealand and again when I was living in London: neighborhoods like Primrose Hill, Holland Park and Maida Vale brought me back to a past where stained glass was a usual fixture of every home and main door entrance.

 

I discovered my passion for stained glass by accident at the tail end of a 20 year career working as a visual effect compositor for the feature film industry. I loved working as a compositor, traveling the globe and working in blockbuster titles like The Hobbit, Harry Potter, The Dark Knight, Han Solo or Bohemian Rapsody. Still, I felt that the artist in me was thriving to move away from the computer screen. I was longing to make something with my hands as well as utilize all the skills I had honed in visual effects: light and color grading, scene design and art composition, attention to detail.

 

In 2016, I moved back to my hometown of Buffalo, NY and rented a workshop space. I signed up for a six-week copper foiling stained glass course through the Ken-Ton Adult Community Education program.  I was enticed by the demands of the tools that required a new dexterity of my hands to cut and grind glass, as well as the challenge and patience of soldering a perfect lead line, not to mention the thrill and excitement every time I finished a piece… I was hooked. It felt as if I was born to do this.

 

I did a few more film contracts overseas in the UK. While there, my passion for stained glass art work had already exploded and I was curating my new honed skills with the best teachers I could study with in London. I expanded my skill set to include the use of lead came as well as glass enamel painting at the Creative Glass Guild in Bristol. Once back in the states, I felt it was the right time to raise the stakes and took a course on sandblasting and photo-sandblasting at the Corning Museum of Glass.

 

In October of 2018 I decided step away from the film industry to professionally establish myself as a stained glass artist full time and founded my own stained glass studio. Taking inspiration from the ancient symbol of a honey bee, which is known to represent community, brightness and personal power, Abeille (pronounced ah-bay) Glassworks was officially born. I rented one of the business incubator makerspaces at the Foundry and have been doing window commissions and small ornate objects for various artisan markets ever since. In June of 2019, Fran Matusak of Jacobs Stained Glass in Elmwood Village took me under his wing as his apprentice. Since then, I have been working on custom windows - some designed by me, some designed by others. In a classic mentor and apprentice fashion, Fran has shared his 40+ years of repair and restoration knowledge with me. The sorts of things you cannot find in a book. With my work I hope to bring beauty and art to daily life ensuring that heritage buildings and homes enhance their appeal thanks to the magic of light and stained glass.

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