The great blue heron stood glaring imperiously into the swamp water with a surface slightly rippled by a light breeze. He was watching for any tell tale sign of movement beneath. Just then the sight of my own image staring back at me from a magnificently stained glass trimmed mirror jogged me back to reality reminding me I was looking at a creation by an accomplished artist. Thus I was introduced to the fabulous art designs of Kathy Juron. The setting was the 1999 White Stone Waterfowl Show.

     In a previous time in our lives, I had come to know Kathy as a part of the banking team at my bank in White Stone. This was a reminder that on the Northern Neck, we are surrounded by a literal cornucopia of multi talented people. The way people earn a living often belies the God-given abilities they may have honed to near perfection, only waiting to find a way to put them to use.

     Such was the case with Kathy. She had earned a degree from Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University, with a major in Fine Arts. She had enjoyed using her fine manual skills and had appreciated working with color blends while knitting, crocheting, and creating other yarn and thread designs. In 1994 she took a course in stained glass art from Ray Bridgers from Mollusk. Her latent skills were brought into clear focus as she began to work with the glass, creating designs that are more than life-like.
When she began to present friends with some of her early designs, the word spread and people began to make requests of her to put a favorite picture or a pet’s image into stained glass and thus her decision was made to go into business for herself. Black Stump Stained Glass was born of this happening. The name comes from the area of Lancaster County where she chose to build her woodland house, nestled among towering oaks where a feeder attracts the squirrels she treats with ear corn.

     Now her studio literally covers the downstairs of her beautiful home, but even as we spoke, her husband was busy working on a garage that will include a new enlarged work and storage area for her. This petite bundle of energy with intense dark brown eyes was wearing a nail apron when she greeted me and she was tying it back around her waist as I took my leave. She headed back quickly to begin hammering nails in that new garage before darkness came.

     After deciding what she would like to create or deciding how to bring to fulfillment a commissioned piece, she decides the colors of glass, purchased from Art Glass House and Delphi Glass of Lansing, Michigan, that will make both an interesting yet authentic design. Using her considerable artistic skills, she draws the pattern she will use to begin the creation. Besides using her innate abilities, Kathy is assisted by a wonderful computer program that allows on screen creating and incorporates many other features needed to bring her work to fruition.

     She uses the old tried and true skills of glass cutting, though her cutter uses lubricating oil from a reservoir in the handle that keeps the score line open until the break can be accomplished by using a special pair of padded pliers with wedge shaped jaws. Tight curves are accomplished by use of a diamond chip edged saw. Sharp edges are smoothed with a glass grinder.

     Two methods of joining the finished glass pieces together are employed. Traditional church-style stained glass has used lead caming to join the pieces. Kathy uses copper foil to wrap the edges and then they are soldered together. The second method uses of zinc came. These methods are both preferable to lead because they allow for finished designs to weigh far less.

     Kathy has assisted two churches in the area with their stained glass designs. In Kilmarnock one can view her work at the Seventh Day Adventist Church. She helped the membership purchase painted panels depicting traditional Christian scenes which she mounted for them. She also designed a fabulous six foot diameter “rose” window in shades of blue which faces and can be viewed from Main Street. In the Lottesburg area her work can be seen in a transom window over the main door at Calvary Pentecostal Church on Lewisetta Road. It features a lighthouse.

     Kathy maintains a thick photo album of her work and one can’t help being awed by the multitude of designs. She estimates that she has now created several hundred individual pieces.

     She obviously has a soft spot for animals. I saw several designs that used dogs, cats, and birds of many varieties. At her home I was greeted at the door by Lydia, a Borzoi hound, that Kathy took in after Tanyua Dickerson’s untimely death. I also met three of Kathy’s eight cats as they made command appearances during my hour-long visit. One emerged from her napping place under a shelf near Kathy’s work table.
The designs now include a series of glass boxes used as urns to hold both animal and human cremains. The smallest pieces measure only 2 X 3.50 X 2.75 inches. Larger ones resemble metal urns.

     The largest design she has made is the six-foot diameter church window. Kathy explained that she likes to use whole panels of glass that allows her to include the color schemes that are a natural part of the manufacturing process. The panel must be cut so that her design can be incorporated and then the panel is reassembled. She acknowledged that should a piece of the large panel get broken the whole design is lost. 
Kathy’s work can be seen at a number of venues. Her designs are on display at Hang-Ups and at the studio of The Rappahannock Art League, both in Kilmarnock. Soon you will be able to see her work at Advantage Window and Door where she has been commissioned to do a heron design over their door.

     Consider visiting Kathy and look at her designs or carry your own ideas and let her bring them to life in stained glass. It is a wonderful thing to have an original art work which is indeed one of a kind to enhance your home or business. 

© 2001 Rev. Ron Jones All Rights Reserved