Even as a child, enchanted by the luminous stained glass windows in Laurel’s First Baptist Church, Jane Crawford was captivated by the jewel-like beauty.
“I loved the windows. I loved the way the light played with them,” said the glass artisan, busy in her Columbus studio. Surrounded by the vividly-colored results of her latest project — flower “layers” of fused glass — Crawford’s enthusiasm for her topic was effervescent. She reached into a drawer, cupping a handful of glossy glass pebbles and pendant shapes.
“It’s cool, smooth and very touchable. It’s exquisite,” she smiled, rubbing the pieces between her fingers. “Just look at it — how can you not love it?”
To say Jane Crawford has a “thing about glass,” as she joked, is an understatement. It was in glass that she found her powerful, creative voice more than 25 years ago.
A calling
As a college student working toward an art degree at William Carey College, Crawford thought her future would be in oil portraiture.
“At some point though, I realized I was mediocre at it,” she admitted candidly.
It was many years later, after becoming a wife and mother, that she found herself living in Columbus, attending Covenant Presbyterian Church.
“I was in a Sunday School class in this wonderful little church and the lesson is on finding the thing to do and doing it with all your might, ‘as if unto the Lord,'” she shared. Inspired, Crawford decided to act on her persistent interest in glass by approaching another member of that class — master artisan Bill Backstrom, now deceased.
“He was an amazing craftsman with glass,” praised Crawford, who became, in essence, an apprentice to Backstrom. “I learned a lot from Bill and enjoyed working with him.”
When the time came, she opened her own shop, Stained Glassworks Inc., on Fifth Street North in downtown Columbus. For 12 years there, Crawford built her skills and reputation as an artist in her own right, creating stained glass windows, doors and more, and filling custom orders. Her work is featured in numerous area churches and homes.
A creative breakthrough came when she learned “not to be afraid of colors.” She approaches each project with a freedom and confidence to meld colors others might not immediately imagine combining.
“Stained glass ended up being the perfect medium for me because I can let the glass do the talking,” she explained. “If you’ve got a really great piece of glass, let it tell the story.”
In the studio
Today, Crawford works from a home studio nestled in the woods of western Lowndes County. Evidence of her craftsmanship and whimsy is everywhere, if the visitor only takes time to look. Against a leafy green backdrop, dozens of fused glass stars hang from branches. Glass butterflies “flit” among roses and lemon bushes. Glass windchimes chink softly, in rhythm with the Prairie breeze.
“If I can’t put color in the woods, where can I put it?” Crawford laughed, leading the way to “the barn,” where her husband, Bob, graciously turned over a large section to her work. She stores most of her raw inventory there, as well as several stunning, large completed projects that burst with color when held to the sunlight.
A gloved apprentice, Christiana Guerrero, pulled sheets of glass from labeled bins, illustrating the difference between the two most basic types of glass — opalescent and cathedral.
Opalescent is translucent but almost opaque. The American innovation is rarely seen in stained glass dating before the late 1800s.
“Think of food coloring swirled in a glass of milk; that’s opalescent,” explained Crawford.
Cathedral glass might be compared to adding a colorant to a glass of water. There’s also streaky glass, which marries different colors in the same sheet. Every sheet has a hue, density and texture that lend personality. The possibilities thrill the artist.
“Some of it says, ‘Oh, use me, use me,'” Crawford grinned. Other sheets, she added, will tell you they want to be used only as an accent. And occasionally, a sheet is just plain stubborn.
“One of my favorite things to do is cut glass; I’ll stay out here and cut and cut,” she stated, demonstrating various cutting tools back in the studio. “But some glass prefers to remain the way it is; it doesn’t bend to my will at all,” she laughed. “In days gone by, I’ve gotten to the point with certain pieces that I’ll just walk away.”
Glass garden
Ever innovative, Crawford relishes exploring techniques to make a wide range of items. Her carport is covered with light-duty, glass-topped occasional tables. Wrought iron “vines” blooming with glass flowers trail across the walls. Framed stained glass panels hang from the ceiling. Remarkable stained glass doors disburse rainbows of light.
Her current kick, however, is fusing. Specifically, making fused glass flower components that can be layered in endless combinations of color and design to form customized flowers. They can be hung on walls, used as accent pieces, or mounted on a garden stake.
Fusing, Crawford explained, means taking glass that is compatible — meaning it expands and contracts at the same rate — and putting it together in a kiln.
Assembling a layered flower, Guerrero remarked, “It’s so interesting working with her; I never know what I’m going to be doing when I get here.”
Sleepless
For Crawford, the biggest challenge may simply be getting to sleep at night.
“I really work on projects in my head before I go to sleep. My mind is always thinking, ‘How can I make that work?’ And I really like that moment when I can go, ‘Oooh, OK … yeah.'”
As projects dictate, she draws on the talents of others. In addition to Guerrero, the team includes David Field, who constructs frames and does installations, and Brian Lindsey, who is skilled at window building and assists in many other ways.
One task she never delegates, though, is unloading any new crate of glass that comes in. She reserves the joy of holding each piece up to the light for herself.
“I have to see it. I want to say ‘Wow’ or ‘Oooh.’ You know, once you see the sunlight through it, that tells you everything you need to know about that piece of glass,” she said, with something akin to reverence.
Yes, Jane Crawford has a thing for glass. She envisions beautiful pieces and sets out to “try to make them as if I was brilliant.”
“If I had to walk away from this today,” she shared, “I’d want to know that God said, ‘We need to move on.’ But he hasn’t said that, and I enjoy every day getting to play with all this.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.