Barnsdall Art Park Stained Glass Class

I signed up for my first class at Barnsdall Art Center during their Winter Session 2019.  After fifteen years without pursuing my hobby, I'm getting back into stained glass--at least on a beginner level.  My instructors, Derek and Angela, even maintain a facebook page for the class, @BarnsdallStainedGlass, so you can follow along with the projects.  The winter session is eight weeks long.  At only three hours long, we need to maximize each class session.

During our first class, we dove right in with a small project to get our feet wet and learn by doing.  Week One's assignment, completed in class, was to design our own pattern by making only three lines on a small piece of paper. We then cut those pattern pieces out with pattern shears and picked scrap glass to score and break.  We applied copper foil to the cut pieces, then used flux, solder, and patina to finish the project.  I'm planning to add zinc came to make a cleaner edge to the outside of the project, then add a chain to make my design into an ornament. 

Having done quite a bit of flat glass in college, I wasn't expecting to learn much during the class.  Rather, I needed the push to clean up my supplies and equipment, and to make time to craft.  But I found that one can always learn something!  On the first night the instructor was using binder clips to keep his rolls of foil neat and tidy.  They worked great.  I'll be taking that one tip to use as my own.

Because the rooms are in such demand by classes of all subjects, there's no room to leave projects or personal supplies from class to class.  I'm really disappointed by that fact, because I wanted to do some larger scale projects, but the size would be prohibitive to transport back and forth each week.  I guess I'm not really surprised though.  I'll pick smaller projects and hopefully get more projects completed than I would if I were restoring the large one I'd had in mind.

I'm hoping I'll make new friends in the class.  It's capped at fifteen students, so we should get to know each other well.  There's one daughter-father couple in the class, a few couples, and three friends who registered together.  I also found out a few people are new to Barnsdall, like me.  We have two students who have taken the class before, and are repeating.  The class covers copper foil, leaded glass, mosaics, foil sheets, 3-d--so many different mediums that I'm not surprised many people elect to take it more than once.  We're encouraged to make of it what we want.

Mural painted on the outside of my classroom

I have a few friends that have taken various jewelry classes at Barnsdall, so I was excited when I finally garnered the initiative to go register. The Park’s benefactor, Aline Barnsdall, gave the eleven and a half acres of Barnsdall Art Park to the City of Los Angeles in 1927 for the benefit of its citizens and to fulfill her vision of furthering enjoyment of art and architecture. In her bequest she stipulated that the site must “forever remain a public park…for the enjoyment of the community in general [and that] no buildings be erected except for art purposes.” The City of Los Angeles’s Department of Cultural Affairs operates the cultural and artistic programs at Barnsdall Park, while the grounds are maintained by the Department of Recreation and Parks.  There is both youth and adult programs on site. 

Aline Barnsdall