I am a stained glass artist working in the beautiful Pacific Northwest in Blaine Washington. An artist all my life, I have jumped from different art media (painting, pottery, jewelry design, to name a few), but finally ended up focusing on a truly beautiful craft ~ stained glass. My training in Architecture Design and experience in graphic art, provided a natural transition to the media of stained glass.

What drew me to it was how beautiful glass can be. It can look one way with the light in front and look another color with the light behind. The colors are also endless. I have had the pleasure of working with glass for 8 years now, starting out making items for friends, progressing to selling at local craft fairs and ended up making new construction commissions. I now sell wholesale to a few stores in our area, perform commission work (structural and new design), participate in juried art events, repair existing stained glass and donate to local causes.

The studio is off the house and there is where the magic happens. I create from patterns and design original art work. If you are interested in a specific design, please contact me directly at sharon [!at] swanson-glass.com and I would be happy to create work for you.

When possible, I try to incorporate other glass materials in my work. Vintage plates have always make a wonderful center for stained glass panels and shells give a nautical theme, but my favorite materials of all; are marbles of any size. I melt them in a kiln and added them into my glass art. Marbles make me happy. Was there a boy collecting and playing with them? [I have two boys of my own but now they are into video games not marbles.] So if you see any round glass incorporated in my stained glass, you know it was a marble. I guess I never fully grew up!

If you ever make a trip up to Beautiful Blaine By the Bay, contact me!